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alyssadorn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
On to the promised long review (light spoilers ahead):
The longing and sorrow and passion and intrigue were so visceral! I felt bereft just reading about their past while knowing how their present looks, sorrowful about the FMC’s past and family, intrigued by what betrayal they kept referencing, enraptured by the story of how they met and fell in love, compelled by their clear pining and worry over each other even through their anger— and moreover I felt these things because I truly felt that both of them were justified in their emotions— their anger and longing and sorrow and everything. I couldn’t fully blame either and I felt for them both.
I don’t usually like miscommunication at all but it really works in this book— there’s realism behind the miscommunication
Graphic: Child death and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual violence and Suicide
yourbookishbff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Gun violence, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity
Child death: there is on-page infant death. It is alluded to from the very start of the book, so it is less a reveal and more a flashback of events. The baby's death is at the hands of our supernaturally powerful villain, and is not realistic or likely (as a parent, this made it far less triggering for me than death-while-sleeping, death due to an accident, death due to illness, etc.). It is tragic, but I personally feel that it is not gratuitously so. For some readers, though, this is understandably a topic they will avoid entirely, and I want to note it here for that reason!yourbookishbff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Pregnancy
heydebigale's review
- 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
This is an friends-to-enemies-to-lovers second chance romance with elements of magical realism due to the martial arts written in the style of the wuxia genre.
This book is fairly violent so definitely check content warnings.
I love nearly everything Sherry Thomas writes, but this is my favorite yet.
Notes: takes place in north-western, China and London, England. Catherine/Ying-Ying is Chinese and Leighton is English.
Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, Child death, and Violence
bookfortbuilder's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Sexism, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation and Murder
Minor: Racism
megloveswords12's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death and Violence