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rainbowrocky's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
My final thoughts on the book are: fun concept, cute characters, dull execution. The beginning was soooo slow but the ending was really good. It took me a year to read this and usually that’s not a good sign for me lol. I feel like I knew the friends better than the love interest August is supposedly bending space and time for to be in love with. Don’t get me wrong, I love found family and I enjoyed seeing them interact, but shouldn’t we know more about Jane? Like we find out about her past, but as a person her character fell a little flat for me. And I found August’s hero complex a touch annoying and fell into the white savior trope a little too hard. I also didn’t care for the “save the diner” side plot (you mean to tell me August is suddenly sad for a place she barely shows up to for work?), but the “find her uncle that’s been missing since the 70s” side plot worked really well for both August’s narrative and Jane’s. I enjoyed McQuiston’s lyrical writing style, especially for the spicy scenes, and how they do dialogue. Overall 4/5 stars. Probably won’t ever read again but I will keep my book cause it’s cute.
Edit: You know what I think this novel needs? Jane's POV. If we had a dual POV with Jane and August, I think it would have been so much better. We could have seen her flashbacks instead of just being told about them through August's eyes. That would have been so much better and maybe getting her inner thoughts about how she feels about August wouldn't make the romance so one-sided for me.
Edit: You know what I think this novel needs? Jane's POV. If we had a dual POV with Jane and August, I think it would have been so much better. We could have seen her flashbacks instead of just being told about them through August's eyes. That would have been so much better and maybe getting her inner thoughts about how she feels about August wouldn't make the romance so one-sided for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Confinement, Child abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Cursing, Hate crime, and Racism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
alexbooksandmore's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I kinda looked forward to reading this, but I don't feel completely satisfied with it.
The first half of the book felt really slow and uneventful, and I just wanted to slap a few people. Even the second half didn't really blow my mind, but I like how everything started making sense and finally saw some character growth.
Both MC were okay. They were fun, they had growth, and by the end of the story, they seemed so much more comfortable with themselves, which I adore.
I love the found family trope and how August found some awesome people to have around her. I love the other characters more than the MC...
Of course, the contemporary-si-fi theme was interesting. I wish it was more scientific details... I guess.. idk. But it was an interesting time travel kind of thing.
Another thing that was really uncomfortable for me was how much and intense PDA was happening...
The first half of the book felt really slow and uneventful, and I just wanted to slap a few people. Even the second half didn't really blow my mind, but I like how everything started making sense and finally saw some character growth.
Both MC were okay. They were fun, they had growth, and by the end of the story, they seemed so much more comfortable with themselves, which I adore.
I love the found family trope and how August found some awesome people to have around her. I love the other characters more than the MC...
Of course, the contemporary-si-fi theme was interesting. I wish it was more scientific details... I guess.. idk. But it was an interesting time travel kind of thing.
Another thing that was really uncomfortable for me was how much and intense PDA was happening...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, and Sexual content
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Homophobia and Death
another_avid_bookreader's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia and Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse
bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This was an incredible read. it really felt like a love story to 70’s queer history told in a way that brings it to the present. Casey’s characters are always people you want to root for, regardless of what is going on. She also managed to make it feel like we inhabited all the place in the story and befriended all of the characters. A really fun read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Hate crime, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Violence
Minor: Lesbophobia, Sexism, Xenophobia, Confinement, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, and Racial slurs
dayniw's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Racism, Police brutality, Mental illness, Homophobia, Grief, Death, Confinement, Child abuse, and Biphobia
kalireads13's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Hate crime, and Homophobia
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Biphobia, Vomit, and Stalking
offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Favourite quote [I’ve already returned the book to the library, so I’m pulling this quote from my memory. I apologize if it’s not exactly correct]: “that sucks, I’m your mom now. The rules are, no Tarantino movies and bed time is never”
I loved this! It was cute, heartwarming, romantic, spicy, and relatable. I’m so glad to see a book with good bi representation and diverse characters in general.
I really think this should be tagged as Science Fiction because I definitely would have picked the book up sooner if I had known there was more than the rom-com plot!
Things I liked:
- Queer history woven into the story [Note: I recently saw a review that said this was inaccurately represented, so I’ll have to look into this further]
- Found family
- All the side characters
- All the rep
- Sci-fi
- Sapphic spice
- Finally a Queer book that’s not about coming out
Some critiques:
I know that a lot of people have taken issue with the “most people aren’t like that anymore” line and I agree that it’s shitty. However, my problem isn’t with the line itself, as I think it is something that August would say. My issue is the fact that the line is never brought up or addressed again. I think it could have been a good opportunity for August to learn and grow.
Similarly, I’ve seen a lot of people express frustration with the fact that the narration did not start using Biyu instead of Jane at the end. While I think this would have been nice, I don’t think the author set it up well. The character said she was “thinking about” going by Biyu at the very end of the book. I would have preferred if this had been introduced a bit earlier so that there was time to explore it further and allow the character to more explicitly state her desire to be called Biyu.
As much as I love a happy ending, I think the author wrapped this one up a bit too perfectly, to the point where it wasn’t believable. Too “happily ever after” for me
Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶.5/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, and Racism
Minor: Car accident and Death
annir's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Homophobia
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, and Police brutality
galacticvampire's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
2.0
Nothing happens until at least 50% in and every single side-character is more interesting than August.
The moments where the full-cast actually interacted, like in the parties, show the potential this had to be more involving and fun; but they were too far in between to make up for the repetitiveness of August and Jane "case solving" (pages and pages of the first dropping every single important thing in her life to annotate on the other's food preferences)
Some issues I had included: the fingering scene in a PACKED subway was completely unnecessary and is treated as something totally normal?
August completely drops out of her life for months but is apparently a super genius who graduates quicker than she expected. On that topic, she worries about her student debt at least 5 times throughout the book but suddenly in the end she's almost done with it?
That scene where August says that "most people aren't like that anymore!!" about the racist-homophobic comment.... Felt really tone deaf and was never addressed again.
The moments where the full-cast actually interacted, like in the parties, show the potential this had to be more involving and fun; but they were too far in between to make up for the repetitiveness of August and Jane "case solving" (pages and pages of the first dropping every single important thing in her life to annotate on the other's food preferences)
August completely drops out of her life for months but is apparently a super genius who graduates quicker than she expected. On that topic, she worries about her student debt at least 5 times throughout the book but suddenly in the end she's almost done with it?
That scene where August says that "most people aren't like that anymore!!" about the racist-homophobic comment.... Felt really tone deaf and was never addressed again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime and Sexual content
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Child abuse
Minor: Car accident