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hayleyvem's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Racism, and Sexual content
kutreen's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-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
This is a sweet romance, but mostly an exploration of complicated relationships and soul searching. I liked the plot, but the writing itself got really repetitive for me and felt like it never got deeper than just below surface-level. I think the same messages could've been achieved with a book half as long. I also had a lot of trouble empathizing with the main character, whose main faults (according to her) are loneliness, perfectionism, and lack of emotional vulnerability. She has four very close friends and a wife, and she is emotionally vulnerable with all of them from the beginning. It is also strange to me that she is confronting her perfectionism at age 29. She's been working herself to the bone for 11 years, in academia no less. I don't understand how she didn't break down or have these revelations about herself sooner. I was just very confused by her. I don't know if that's a fault of the writing, or if in fact a lot of people see themselves in Grace and I'm just not one of those people. The whole thing about "Porters (aka our family) act like this, and don't do that, etc" really bugged me. Even though Grace realizes it's messed up, I hated reading that phrasing over and over again. I think Grace's parents both had a lot more work to do on themselves and Grace was too forgiving. I think that the author was trying to accomplish too much and in the end not much got accomplished. A lot of pretty words are said, Grace gets a little more emotionally vulnerable and a little less perfectionist.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Self harm
lilcaracol17's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
4.75
A smidge sappy and the characters/author are very wordy but I found the characters very likeable and I was completely drawn into the story. The premise is fun and so romantic! I found the main conflict of the book a bit confusing though. Yuki is a waitress, why can't she move to wherever Grace wants to be? Why did Grace have to move to New York? It's fair enough if Yuki doesn't want to move but it was never addressed as an equally viable option. The writing style was lovely.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
kinga1204's review against another edition
emotional
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Self harm, and Mental illness
Minor: Sexual content
thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
5.0
OH, the things this book made me feel. Raise your hand if you fought to get where you are, don't know how to take a break, and experience burnout? I loved Grace's emotional and mental journey in this story. I loved Yuki and her roommates and astronomy and seeing therapy and just everything, really. Will definitely be rereading this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Self harm, Racism, Homophobia, and Drug use
Minor: Suicide attempt and Sexual content
beforeviolets's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
I'm going to steal a quote from my dear friend Rach, who was kind enough to gift me this book:
"How do I talk about a book which felt like it had torn open my chest and stared into my soul?"
This book terrified me. This book tore me open and picked apart every ounce of myself and broke it all down. I cried countless times reading this.
I can't put my thoughts into too many words out of fear of ruining the magic for those that have not had the opportunity to dig their claws into this masterpiece yet but this is easily the most beautiful and most touching story I've ever read.
<i> "...To my fellow lonely creatures out there, waiting patiently in the dark... Are you there? I hope you're listening." </i>
"How do I talk about a book which felt like it had torn open my chest and stared into my soul?"
This book terrified me. This book tore me open and picked apart every ounce of myself and broke it all down. I cried countless times reading this.
I can't put my thoughts into too many words out of fear of ruining the magic for those that have not had the opportunity to dig their claws into this masterpiece yet but this is easily the most beautiful and most touching story I've ever read.
<i> "...To my fellow lonely creatures out there, waiting patiently in the dark... Are you there? I hope you're listening." </i>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Abandonment, Sexual content, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
elliesberrie's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
Minor: Death and Alcohol
aimeepierce's review
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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
I thought this was a beautifully written 2nd coming of age story. our story follows Grace, who out of the blue gets drunkenly married to someone on a trip to Vegas. this isn´t like her right? Grace is the person who has a Ph.D. in astronomy she doesn´t do stuff like that...right? After the trip to Vegas Grace wants to learn more about the girl she married, but was only left with a business card. While struggling with finding work, she goes to find herself and take a break.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved Grace´s character, as she was trying to find her path after going through so much school to get to where she wants to be. Not only is Grace´s character written so well, so are ALL the other characters. They were written like actual people I may know or see, but they were loveable as well.
Cannot recommend it enough as a great contemporary fiction, wlw, 2nd coming of age story!
I really enjoyed this book. I loved Grace´s character, as she was trying to find her path after going through so much school to get to where she wants to be. Not only is Grace´s character written so well, so are ALL the other characters. They were written like actual people I may know or see, but they were loveable as well.
Cannot recommend it enough as a great contemporary fiction, wlw, 2nd coming of age story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Sexual content
moodreaderlesbian's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Mental illness
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Racism
Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol
thebakerbookworm's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I wanted to like this book, but alas, it was just not for me.
My main issue was with the characters. For a character-driven novel, there is hardly any character development and most of the side characters don't even move into being complex characters. We get a lot of depth from Grace, which is great, but by the end of the book I was still unsure if she'd actually grown over the course of the story. You'd expect that we'd get depth and development from the love interest, Yuki, but nothing. I found Yuki to be a super interesting character, but we still know hardly anything about her by the end—her family, her backstory, how she got into radio, how she met her roommates, how she fell in love with Grace.Even why she stuck by Grace at the end. I kept thinking, "Grace has no right to expect that Yuki just hung around waiting for her," yet it turns out that's exactly what Yuki did and we are never told why. The most depth we get from a side character was Raj, and it is quickly stepped back from and then kind of swept under a rug afterward. I think I would have liked this book a lot more if we were also given Yuki's perspective, instead of the story just being a single POV. Grace had some good moments but I wanted more from the other characters too (who all seemed to have interesting stories that we learn very little about).
The plot is minimal, and I will say that with so little also happening with the characters, I was bored a lot. But I can appreciate the writing and I liked the overall story and the questions the author was bringing up through these characters. I just wanted to know them more and I feel like it barely scratched the surface.
My main issue was with the characters. For a character-driven novel, there is hardly any character development and most of the side characters don't even move into being complex characters. We get a lot of depth from Grace, which is great, but by the end of the book I was still unsure if she'd actually grown over the course of the story. You'd expect that we'd get depth and development from the love interest, Yuki, but nothing. I found Yuki to be a super interesting character, but we still know hardly anything about her by the end—her family, her backstory, how she got into radio, how she met her roommates, how she fell in love with Grace.
The plot is minimal, and I will say that with so little also happening with the characters, I was bored a lot. But I can appreciate the writing and I liked the overall story and the questions the author was bringing up through these characters. I just wanted to know them more and I feel like it barely scratched the surface.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Self harm, and Sexual content