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ohmygoshtosh's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Sexual content, Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
Minor: Racism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
baguettegay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Sexual content, and Mental illness
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Death of parent, Mental illness, Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Sexual content, Trafficking, Vomit, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, and Racism
Minor: Violence, Confinement, and War
annabulkowski's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Toxic relationship, Child death, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
blackcatkai's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
This was a pretty great start to LaCour's entry into the adult fiction world. It does cover a lot of heavy topics, so take any content/trigger warnings seriously before diving in. With the way the blurb sounded, I DID think it'd be a little more focused on the two MC's coming together than it actually was.
This is mainly a contemporary literary fiction novel about two women's lives and the trauma & experiences they go through throughout their lives before those lives intersect. it touches on them together in a couple points (similar to Normal People by Sally Rooney), but it focuses a lot more on their individual events without each other. I found the pacing in the middle to be a bit slow, but it had a strong beginning and ending and I ultimately was rooting for them.
I hope LaCour continues to dive into the adult fiction world, I will absolutely continue reading her work. I was just expecting a little more here & was honestly a bit confused in points.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Mental illness
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Ableism
lacey_wi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Murder, Sexual assault, Rape, Cancer, Abandonment, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Child death
Moderate: Homophobia and Dementia
jjreads331's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Child death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
Minor: Blood
voidboi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Rape, Pedophilia, and Infidelity
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Sexual content
thisbookrox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief
Minor: Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, and War
saestrah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Nina LaCour perfectly captures the essence of being in your mid- to late-twenties, especially when it comes to Emilie. There's something incredibly heartening about reading about a character's reluctance to decide what direction her future should take her. There's one scene in particular where Emilie invites her friends over for a dinner party, and realises that she doesn't quite own enough glasses or plates. It expresses her sense of impermience in her life, not wanting to truly decorate her studio flat because it's not quite 'perfect.' She thinks there will be a moment in the distant future where she realises that it's 'time' to grow roots and become a real grown-up, and yet as the plot develops she comes to realise that she's already been living in that moment, and now simply lives in an undecorated flat. I think it's true for a lot of millenials who are currently living paycheck-by-paycheck, in rented apartments we're not allowed to keep pets in or replace badly stained carpets, that we're simply waiting for life to reach a point where we're allowed to be the people we've aspired to be since we were children. As a child, we dream of having a house and a career, but adulthood is never quite the same in reality.
I loved the slow development of Emilie and Sara's relationship. After reading a few more typical 'romance' novels, where the main characters meet within the first couple pages and rarely spend scenes apart, it's nice to see a much slower progression, where Emilie and Sara are developed as individuals before they are as a couple. There's chemistry between them, but more than that there's understanding. And it's not the 'love at first sight' kind; there are mistakes and there is miscommunication, but thankfully it's the kind of miscommunication we, as the reader, can understand and see the logic in because of the depth of characterisation. They feel real to me, pushing past the limitations of tropes and stereotypes and into the complications of what our pasts and the secrets we keep can alter the self.
LaCour's writing is descriptive, setting scenes in swathes of bold colours, intricate floral arrangements, and distinctive tastes. Considering their professions, it suits the characters' narrations and the pacing of the story.
All in all, this is a book I would recommend to anyone looking for adult sapphic/wlw fiction. The story isn't particularly groundbreaking, but there's a familiarity to it that feels like coming home and finally being seen.
Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual content