3.93 AVERAGE

challenging reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
reflective 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
challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The only way I can describe this book is: breathtakingly beautiful.

Beautifully written, however the audio book feels very disjointed at the start due to the beginning being written like a play.

Beautiful, lyrical, and full of amazing lines of poetic rambling about love and life and time. The story itself is about two people, broken in their own ways, colliding into each other and becoming completely intertwined. It’s romance in the most romantic way of being, their story is overdramatic and child-like, and as an observer of it, you’re watching them progress with fear and caution because what they’ve found in each other is so fragile. They lose themselves in their love in a way that adults often struggle to do, and because they’re such empathetic characters, you want to save them from the pain of losing themselves and each other.

Beautiful writing and interesting characters, but my main issue was how intense Aldo and Regan's connection was. Their relationship starts so beautifully with their six conversations, but things quickly escalate, and it almost reads as toxic how much they need each other. I think there's a distinction between having a healthy amount of dependence in a relationship and needing each other as intensely as they needed each other. Some of the details the author touches on about entering a serious relationship did resonate, like the fear of depending on someone else, or the way people tangibly change each other, but with Aldo and Regan everything was amplified; they were more obsessed with each other than anything else. Though Regan shows some level of growth through her relationship with Aldo, neither seem to really address their underlying mental health issues despite some concerning behavior.

Other notes:
- Changing narrative style could have been cool but felt disjoint
emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emcot's profile picture

emcot's review

2.0

just a bit too much for me. enjoyable, but too much. for me. not for everyone! but certainly for me. olivie blake writes beautifully nevertheless
challenging informative reflective medium-paced