Reviews

Even though it was stressful to sit through all the rampant homophobia in this book, I still really enjoyed it. I was about 11 years old in 1999, but I remember how much more homophobic media and the general public were.

I'm also really glad that they waited to date until Molly was no longer Carmen's student. I like that both characters were ethical in the way they acted, and didn't turn into monsters as a way of the author creating conflict. I was able to like the characters the whole way through.

Fun read, loved the characters, cathartic "bully gets what he deserves" moment, would recommend!

jamietherebelliousreader's review

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4.0

4 stars. The plot to this was so good. The main characters, Molly and Carmen, are determined to take down a homophobic and sexist colleague and they fall in love. I thought it was pretty cool that this was set in the late 90s and I feel that Ivins really utilized the setting and period.

The writing was great, it’s paced well, and the characters are so likable. However, the romance between Molly and Carmen was incredibly lackluster because they don’t acknowledge their feelings and get together until the end of the book and it felt like it came out of nowhere. I didn’t feel the chemistry between them unfortunately. I preferred them as individuals because they are both intelligent and badass women but as a couple I wasn’t buying it. I think this was still a very fascinating read and I have Ivins other book on my kindle and I’m looking forward to it because her writing was engaging and kept me hooked. I just wanted more from the romance.

kburns2004's review against another edition

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4.0

A flashback to the 90s. A long slow burn about the difficulty of being a lesbian at the turn of the century. Couldn't stop reading this one

amymarsdenauthor's review against another edition

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3.0

I was hesitant to read this because of the whole professor/student thing, but when I saw Molly was a thirty year old grad student who was more like a colleague, I thought I'd give it a go.

This was a strange one for me. It almost didn't feel like a romance? It was extremely slow burn—nothing really happened until the last quarter of the book, and the rest was filled with American politics. As I'm not American I didn't really care about any of that.

Molly had an infatuation with Carmen pretty early on but I didn't see any reciprocity from Carmen. Neither character commented on the other in a particularly romantic/interested way until the latter parts of the book, when it seemed to come out of nowhere with a lot of telling instead of showing.

I liked that it was set in the late 90's, and I thought it dealt with that time period well. Carmen's fear of coming out felt real, and I was rooting for her the whole book. I also loved the little side plot with the kittens. So cute!

But yeah, this didn't really make that much of an impression. Still though, I look forward to the authors other works!

ungodly444's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

i don’t really like the 90s setting

awayback33's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

00leah00's review

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3.0

This is 3.5 stars for me. I liked it but the romance didn’t start until very late and then kind of came out of nowhere it seemed. I did enjoy reading about intelligent women taking down a homophobic man in the 90’s.

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