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Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment
Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Homophobia, Sexual content, Alcohol
Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Terminal illness
I had to look up about 4 words a page so that was fun.
It took me a minute to enjoy reading Luc's style of speech/narration. He mostly was coming across as chaotic and a bit of a run on. While some of this was his unique personality, you can literally "feel" Oliver's impact on Luc just by noticing how much more coherent and self aware his self-talk and narration is. It was a really fun technique to experience.
I wish the intimate scenes weren't closed door/fade to black, but you still get a decent sense of how that physical connection changes their relationship.
Graphic: Cancer, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Self harm, Gaslighting
Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Death of parent, Dysphoria
While this story shows both healthy and unhealthy relationship styles a couple unlikable characters creep in, but I suppose that makes it more relatable.
Another observation I found intriguing was the introduction of potentially neurodivergent characters. I appreciate the inclusion of a diverse group of characters within the story.
Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content
Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Classism
Minor: Drug use, Racism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol
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: Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Abandonment
Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Classism
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Dysphoria
Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Alcohol
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism
Moderate: Cancer, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Death of parent
Honestly I expected more from this story. It was kind of a let down. There were some incredibly witty moments where I laughed out loud and I do really like Luc and how he grows in the story. Oliver was okay. Bridget was annoying as hell, which maybe was the point but dang tone it down just a little. The James Royce-Royce bit doesn't hit in the audiobook (I have also likely spelled this wrong because of that). I don't know...Red, White & Royal Blue did it better in my opinion.
This book is also incredibly British, and there was quite a lot of slang and British English that flew over my head. I know Hall is British and I'm not saying it should have had less slang, but I, as an American who never had an Anglophile phase, was lost several times because of the language. Also, I've never been to London and this book definitely assumes you have been to London. Considering Luc breaks the fourth wall, we could've explained some of the geography better. I would have been equally lost with this amount of information given if the city were Chicago or New York.
Graphic: Mental illness, Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Homophobia
Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse
Graphic: Cancer, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism
Moderate: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content
Minor: Drug use