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pointeshoebookworm's review
lighthearted
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
4.0
I genuinely enjoyed this. Possibly more than Out of Character. I especially loved that there was not third act break up between Milo and Jasper. Truly hoping that Annabeth Albert comes out with another contemporary romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Toxic friendship
lisa_m's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
3.75
This was a fun read. I didn't like it as much as the first book though..
I think it's very unrealistic for a bully to turn 180 degrees in so little time.
Milo really went from 'hey sorry I might have been a bit shitty' to self hatred and humility in 100 pages.
Also I'm not the biggest fan of 'I was in love with my bully and now he's gay too'? I did find the whole best friends - to bully - to lovers thing interesting. Certainly something I have never read before.
I think it's very unrealistic for a bully to turn 180 degrees in so little time.
Milo really went from 'hey sorry I might have been a bit shitty' to self hatred and humility in 100 pages.
Also I'm not the biggest fan of 'I was in love with my bully and now he's gay too'? I did find the whole best friends - to bully - to lovers thing interesting. Certainly something I have never read before.
It is not a very realistic book but I guess it's nice to have a positive escapist story.
I like the idea of second chances and both mcs are really likeable and have great chemistry. Both being so likeable kind of put me of the story though because one of them is supposed to have been a bully but we never see that. We never get to know what he actually did only that he was very mean and the person who is actually in the story is extremely kind and sweet and I had a hard time seeing him as the bully. Also Jesper could be a bit annoying. Still enjoyable though.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Homophobia, Medical content, and Sexual content
20sidedbi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Vomit
saeruh's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.5
I wanted to love this sequel as much as I did the first but I couldn’t see the chemistry between Milo and Jasper as well I had with Conrad and Alden. I thought this was a cute summer read and I’ll probably read more of Albert books, especially if she writes more in this series (maybe a story for the professors or April?). I wasn’t the biggest fan of the second half of the book though, because there seemed to be a huge emphasis on needing to come out to have your gay relationship be significant and that felt triggering to me but I guess to each their own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Bullying, Homophobia, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Outing
Minor: Self harm and Medical content
the_vegan_bookworm's review
emotional
lighthearted
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Homophobia
Moderate: Death of parent, Bullying, and Alcoholism
Minor: Car accident
aus10england's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
UgghGhhghhgh, so frustrating!
Conventionally yours was one of my fave books of the year when I read it. This one was a huge let down for me.
Everything I liked about the first book was missing from this one: fun road trip, believable and likable romance, fun ensemble cast.
I did enjoy the writing, and I was mostly entertained throughout, but I did end up missing the cast of characters from the Conventionally Yours too much to not compare.
Not the worst, not the best, may have enjoyed more if I hadn’t loved the first book sooooo much. (you don’t need to read the first book to read this one)
Conventionally yours was one of my fave books of the year when I read it. This one was a huge let down for me.
Everything I liked about the first book was missing from this one: fun road trip, believable and likable romance, fun ensemble cast.
I did enjoy the writing, and I was mostly entertained throughout, but I did end up missing the cast of characters from the Conventionally Yours too much to not compare.
Not the worst, not the best, may have enjoyed more if I hadn’t loved the first book sooooo much. (you don’t need to read the first book to read this one)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Car accident, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
foreverinastory's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-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
4.5
Okay ex-best friends to lovers is a new fave!
Rep: white gay male MC, white gay Italian male MC with an injured leg, white female side character with a chronic illness (blood disorder), Latino achillean male side character, white achillean elderly male side character, autistic gay male side character and his boyfriend, various children with chronic illnesses/disabilities in a hospital in-patient ward.
CWs: Homophobia/homomisia, sexual content, injury/injury detail . Moderate: Ableism, past mentions of bullying, mentions of alcoholism/addiction, past death from chronic alcoholism, death of parent, medical content, cancer, chronic illness, past mentions of emotional abuse, grief, past car accident, toxic friendship.
Rep: white gay male MC, white gay Italian male MC with an injured leg, white female side character with a chronic illness (blood disorder), Latino achillean male side character, white achillean elderly male side character, autistic gay male side character and his boyfriend, various children with chronic illnesses/disabilities in a hospital in-patient ward.
CWs: Homophobia/homomisia, sexual content, injury/injury detail . Moderate: Ableism, past mentions of bullying, mentions of alcoholism/addiction, past death from chronic alcoholism, death of parent, medical content, cancer, chronic illness, past mentions of emotional abuse, grief, past car accident, toxic friendship.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Homophobia
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Cancer, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
flowerparrish's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent
lessthelonely's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-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
3.0
3.5/5 stars.
Sometimes you just want to read something light and the first romance you lay eyes on is the answer - that's why I ended up reading this book. At the beginning of the week, I said, OK, let me start a new book. I'm feeling romance after reading an underwhelming Thriller, so let's go.
The first one I caught was this one. It's very interesting that Romance tends to lean into those 2D drawing covers, which I do like! But I like it more when the cover does lean into what's talked about in the book. This book reads like a baby's first M/M romance. Very cute, very A Fault in Our Stars in the dialogue - by which a mean a lot of shit that's like Okay? Okay. Here's the thing, I didn't think it drew back from the book, it feels like a New Adult Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda was the point of this, so I would say Mission Accomplished.
I hate living in the timeline where Simon is a sort of blueprint for gay Achillean romance and I do like to pretend it isn't most of the time. Books like The Charm Offensive and Boyfriend Material make me believe it doesn't have to be that way.
I probably should've been a little more thorough in choosing the book to read, because this is apparently the 2nd book in a series and the first one's couple is treated as established in this one. But even though I remembered that in the middle of reading, I finished it, so here we are.
This book basically takes a pre-established enemies-to-lovers setting with childhood friends who ended up drifting apart. Even the synopsis makes that a selling point and the thing here is that the enemies part isn't really enemies? From the very first chapter, both characters seem to be acting like they want each other, which is OK, it doesn't feel insta-lovey at all. It's just, it feels like the enemies part was just added to simply be able to have enemies-to-lovers as a tagline. It's a smart move, even if a little dishonest.
This is dual POV and I would say that the book definitely makes a lot of wins thanks to this fact, but, at the same time, I feel like the POVs should've been more fleshed out. The characters do have a similar way of talking and very similar voices, and I didn't expect to find way more joy in reading Milo's POV, as he was a way more realized character. I don't mean to say Jasper isn't nice or interesting, but he read like Simon, you know? Even if the sex scenes definitely gave him some big ass points.
The sex scenes are very satisfying even if I don't think anyone would consider them that spicy? They didn't read as kinky or as wild to me as I feel is usually what most smut fans want, they read as fluff with sex, not sex with fluff, you feel me? I realized then that this flavor of smut might be what I enjoy most to read, even if it's the first time I willingly read a book knowing I would be getting sex scenes. I might've even been looking for them, for once.
Either way, I am not going to give this book a higher rating because of the problem with the POVs and, unfortunately, I can't let myself get through the fact that the pining stage was SO SHORT. It was done so well, that's why I feel the need to make a point in saying that it should've lasted a bit longer. On another note, I do hope you read this book because, despite my worst suspicions, this book understands conflict.
No one acts out of character because the book needs stakes. It's an amazing thing to see and I want all romance books to understand this. So, give this one a shot!
Sometimes you just want to read something light and the first romance you lay eyes on is the answer - that's why I ended up reading this book. At the beginning of the week, I said, OK, let me start a new book. I'm feeling romance after reading an underwhelming Thriller, so let's go.
The first one I caught was this one. It's very interesting that Romance tends to lean into those 2D drawing covers, which I do like! But I like it more when the cover does lean into what's talked about in the book. This book reads like a baby's first M/M romance. Very cute, very A Fault in Our Stars in the dialogue - by which a mean a lot of shit that's like Okay? Okay. Here's the thing, I didn't think it drew back from the book, it feels like a New Adult Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda was the point of this, so I would say Mission Accomplished.
I hate living in the timeline where Simon is a sort of blueprint for gay Achillean romance and I do like to pretend it isn't most of the time. Books like The Charm Offensive and Boyfriend Material make me believe it doesn't have to be that way.
I probably should've been a little more thorough in choosing the book to read, because this is apparently the 2nd book in a series and the first one's couple is treated as established in this one. But even though I remembered that in the middle of reading, I finished it, so here we are.
This book basically takes a pre-established enemies-to-lovers setting with childhood friends who ended up drifting apart. Even the synopsis makes that a selling point and the thing here is that the enemies part isn't really enemies? From the very first chapter, both characters seem to be acting like they want each other, which is OK, it doesn't feel insta-lovey at all. It's just, it feels like the enemies part was just added to simply be able to have enemies-to-lovers as a tagline. It's a smart move, even if a little dishonest.
This is dual POV and I would say that the book definitely makes a lot of wins thanks to this fact, but, at the same time, I feel like the POVs should've been more fleshed out. The characters do have a similar way of talking and very similar voices, and I didn't expect to find way more joy in reading Milo's POV, as he was a way more realized character. I don't mean to say Jasper isn't nice or interesting, but he read like Simon, you know? Even if the sex scenes definitely gave him some big ass points.
The sex scenes are very satisfying even if I don't think anyone would consider them that spicy? They didn't read as kinky or as wild to me as I feel is usually what most smut fans want, they read as fluff with sex, not sex with fluff, you feel me? I realized then that this flavor of smut might be what I enjoy most to read, even if it's the first time I willingly read a book knowing I would be getting sex scenes. I might've even been looking for them, for once.
Either way, I am not going to give this book a higher rating because of the problem with the POVs and, unfortunately, I can't let myself get through the fact that the pining stage was SO SHORT. It was done so well, that's why I feel the need to make a point in saying that it should've lasted a bit longer. On another note, I do hope you read this book because, despite my worst suspicions, this book understands conflict.
No one acts out of character because the book needs stakes. It's an amazing thing to see and I want all romance books to understand this. So, give this one a shot!
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent and Car accident
ticktock's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content