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Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
Minor: Drug abuse, Eating disorder
I almost DNFed this book just a couple of chapters in. I quite honestly found the set up for the fake dating scenario quite ridiculous, and not in a fun romcom sort of way. I'm very aware that this genre isn't supposed to be taken as seriously as others, but I still prefer my plot hooks to be somewhat engaging and believable without leaving me thinking "seriously??"
Despite this, I persevered because I had heard good things about this book and I am nothing if not a hopeless queer man looking to read fluffy romance stories about other hopeless queer men.
Once we got past the set-up and into the meat of the fake-boyfriends-doomed-to-develop-feelings I did start to enjoy it a lot more. I was rooting for Luc the whole time, both his and Oliver's character growth was heartwarming to see, and the fluffy romance scenes where exactly what I wanted. I've seen some reviews complaining the drama was too over the top, but I disagree. Was there a lot of it? Kind of. Is it exactly what I'd expect in any sort of romance media? Also yes. For the type of book it is, I think it was just right and the resolution was always handled well.
While I was wholly onboard with Luc and Oliver once they actually got fake-together, I did really struggle with a lot of the background characters and parts that were clearly supposed to be funny and, to me, were just awkward and jarring. I could see what Hall was trying to do with Alex's character and yet I still found every scene with him (and Miffy) genuinely uncomfortable to read. The James Royce-Royce joke (was it even really a joke?) wasn't really confusing so much as trying too hard to be quirky, and Dr Fairclough felt like a not-so-subtle, decently offensive caricature of neurodivergence.
The ending of the story was cute enough, but could have been stronger. I read the last page thinking "is that it?" I was so genuinely happy when Oliver came to fix things, but I think the resolution of what is probably the biggest conflict in the story was weaker compared to some of the excellent conversations Luc and Oliver shared at earlier points in their relationship.
Overall, the actual romance in this book does a lot of heavy lifting, which I suppose isn't a bad thing in a romance story, but you have to struggle through a lot of awkward characters and unfunny jokes (ironically, this doesn't include the actual jokes Luc tries to tell in the office) to read the good stuff sandwiched between a bad start and underwhelming ending.
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Drug use, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Eating disorder, Vomit
Graphic: Cancer, Homophobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol
Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Classism
Minor: Addiction
Graphic: Addiction, Abandonment
Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Sexual content, Classism
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia
general+ending spoilers
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Addiction, Racism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting
Minor: Eating disorder
Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Abandonment
Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Racism