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wardenred's review against another edition
emotional
funny
slow-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
4.0
“Are we really bad at this?” I asked. “We’ve been fake dating for three days and we’ve already fake broken up once.”
“Yes, but we fake resolved our difficulties and fake got back together, and I’m hoping it’s made us fake stronger.”
I cracked this book open with the full intention of loving the hell out of it. After all, it's by Alexis Hall, and he's one of my favorite romance authors. And my friends have been recommending it to me for ages. And everyone kept saying it had the vibe of a far more adult Red, White & Royal Blue, and I absolutely adored that one. Oh, and finally, it's a fake dating romance with a tint of enemies-to-lovers, how cool is that?
However, for the first looong half of the story, my heart just wasn't in it. I kept trying to figure out what was wrong. There were plenty of hilarious moments. And plenty of dramatic moments with feelings. And lots and lots of compelling characters and cool scenes and amazing banter. But somehow, all of it refused to come together into a single engaging tapestry.
It was in the second half that I realized what wasn't working for me: I would have loved this book so hard if it was from Oliver's point of view and not Luc's.
I mean, I don't mind Luc. And he's certainly the logical choice for the POV character if there only has to be one. He's the one with all the stuff going on: family and work and paparazzi and his life and mind both being a huge mess. But Oliver was just so more compelling to me. I would have loved a book focused front and centered on someone who is so put together (but also a strongly contained mess on the inside, because aren't we all), and who gets confronted by and pulled into all of Luc's chaos and inadvertently helps Luc find his footing while slowly losing and then regaining his own.
I felt like Oliver's arc was so much more interesting and had more depth, but it took so long for it to truly become prominent on page. Because we spend the entire book in Luc's POV, and Luc sure took his time to actually see Oliver. He kept catching glimpses here and there, but then his own insecurities kept getting in the way.
So all in all: I enjoyed the story, but not how it was told/presented, I guess. And it well may be a case of "it's not you, dear book, it's me," so I guess 4 stars will be a fair rating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Homophobia
botanicalprofanity's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Eating disorder, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming and Sexual content
diana_raquel's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
3.5
"I think it’s usually better to face the world as it is. The more we try to hide from something, the more power we give it."
I didn't know what to expect from this book. Looking at the synopsis it looked like something that I would like, but then, I started seeing this book recommended more and more, and I got suspicions. Every time a book that I'm interested in gets some hype, I become suspicious because hyped books are always 50/50 to me.
But I really like it! It's cute. I certainly have read better romance books, but this one was close to being a solid 4-star read. It just fell a little short, but that's definitely a "me thing" rather than a "book thing". My guess is, because I didn't understand some references to British culture, I was out of the loop and didn't understand the setting of some situations. And that affected my reading experience.
However, what absolutely won me in this book was the character development. To be honest I didn't like Luc at first. I thought that at some times he has whiny and unreasonable, without having a real reason to be it, but, for some reason, I kept rooting for him and Oliver. And, with time, I started to like its development of Luc.
Furthermore, another positive point is that this book was able to surprise me since some plot twists were completely unexpected.
Overall, I quite liked this book. It's a cute romance story that I recommend. I can't wait for the sequel.
I didn't know what to expect from this book. Looking at the synopsis it looked like something that I would like, but then, I started seeing this book recommended more and more, and I got suspicions. Every time a book that I'm interested in gets some hype, I become suspicious because hyped books are always 50/50 to me.
But I really like it! It's cute. I certainly have read better romance books, but this one was close to being a solid 4-star read. It just fell a little short, but that's definitely a "me thing" rather than a "book thing". My guess is, because I didn't understand some references to British culture, I was out of the loop and didn't understand the setting of some situations. And that affected my reading experience.
However, what absolutely won me in this book was the character development. To be honest I didn't like Luc at first. I thought that at some times he has whiny and unreasonable, without having a real reason to be it, but, for some reason, I kept rooting for him and Oliver. And, with time, I started to like its development of Luc.
Furthermore, another positive point is that this book was able to surprise me since some plot twists were completely unexpected.
Overall, I quite liked this book. It's a cute romance story that I recommend. I can't wait for the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment
Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cancer and Classism
buttermellow's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
sohma4uesugi's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Abandonment
endlesstbrlist's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia
Moderate: Abandonment
white_lotus7's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Homophobia
Moderate: Cancer and Abandonment
savvyrosereads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
5.0
Rating: 5/5 stars
Luc O’Donnell is the mildly famous son of an aging rock star, in need of serious reputation rehabilitation in order to save his job. Enter perfect (fake) boyfriend Oliver Blackwood.
This book was made for me and that is all. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I felt like a book was so utterly and perfectly *me* in terms of sense of humor and writing style, but this one landed in every possible way. I also craved French toast a lot. The romance is adorable and sweet and genuine, every page is more hilarious than the next, and the plot is simple but with a lot of depth and heart.
I want to have more eloquent words to explain in detail why this book is such a delight, but I honestly don’t—I just adored it. One of my toxic reader traits is that I don’t always love a book when I’m in it—I’d rather “have read” a book than “be reading it.” But with this book I loved every moment I spent with it, and never wanted it to end, and honestly that’s the highest praise I can give. Alexis Hall can have all my money because his books have my entire heart.
Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: LGBTQ rom-coms; British humor; French toast.
CW: Homophobia; emotional abuse; cancer; abandonment; brief discussion of eating disorder.
Luc O’Donnell is the mildly famous son of an aging rock star, in need of serious reputation rehabilitation in order to save his job. Enter perfect (fake) boyfriend Oliver Blackwood.
This book was made for me and that is all. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I felt like a book was so utterly and perfectly *me* in terms of sense of humor and writing style, but this one landed in every possible way. I also craved French toast a lot. The romance is adorable and sweet and genuine, every page is more hilarious than the next, and the plot is simple but with a lot of depth and heart.
I want to have more eloquent words to explain in detail why this book is such a delight, but I honestly don’t—I just adored it. One of my toxic reader traits is that I don’t always love a book when I’m in it—I’d rather “have read” a book than “be reading it.” But with this book I loved every moment I spent with it, and never wanted it to end, and honestly that’s the highest praise I can give. Alexis Hall can have all my money because his books have my entire heart.
Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: LGBTQ rom-coms; British humor; French toast.
CW: Homophobia; emotional abuse; cancer; abandonment; brief discussion of eating disorder.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
breadbees's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
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: Panic attacks/disorders and Abandonment
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Classism
writewithapendragon's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Classism