Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - For Her Consideration

Despite some… unforgivable… lines ([Nina (the MC) in a jealous rant to herself about Gina, a woman Ari (the LI) ate dinner with:] “-and how much better she probably was at giving people orgasms, I’d presume. Her name made up half of vagina, after all, did that give her an edge?” — I cringe even thinking about this line.), I did in fact finish this book.

Unfortunately, I don’t have much in kind words for this book (which btw is never an attack on the author, because clearly the majority of readers disagree with me and loved this book; hence the 900 4+ star reviews before mine.). The premise was great, and that is what kept me going here.

I have to agree with some of the reviews I’ve seen about Nina’s characterization. She is just another character who frustratingly lacks any self- or social-awareness. At the beginning of the story we are told about Nina’s ex of 3 years, Taylor. Taylor implies that Nina is not there for her friends, we are told that she is wrong, and then Nina literally proves it by ghosting all of them right after her and Taylors breakup. We’re told this is because Nina is scared they’ll have chosen Taylor or that she'll end up hurting them because of what Taylor said, which just showcases her inability to just communicate. It also brings her friends into question, as it didn’t seem like they really even tried to find her again afterward. Hell a rumor was started that she died and no one even tried to reach out to her aunt or look into it any further. And then, because doing it once wasn’t enough – SHE DOES IT AGAIN. (Granted, this time was ‘only’ for 3 weeks…) One thing I think the author did excellently, however, is put Nina in therapy rather than just having the character flaws resolve themselves once she was in a more secure relationship.

As for the writing, the best I can describe it as is Buzzfeed - which is fine, of course, if you like/relate to that kind of writing. I don’t. I found a lot of the “funny”(?) lines to be like the one I brought up earlier in this review, which was almost a dealbreaker for me. It was also quite repetitive throughout, mentioning the same thoughts over and over and over again throughout the chapters.

I really do think this book will be enjoyable for so many people, despite my opinions on it. The last two chapters were extremely sweet, and there were a lot of fun moments. It just missed the mark for me.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

“And if I’m not giving fucks, who will?”

Content Warnings

bookishwondergoth's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

This was a really solid read and the Hollywood romance vibes were just perfect. I absolutely loved Nina and Ari as our main characters, and the queer friendships on show were just utterly delightful. Raced through this one as part of the Illumicrate Afterlight readalong; I was never bored and really enjoyed myself.

Sex scenes were a bit meh and there is a lot of unchecked drink driving (are LA drink driving laws quite lax or something?). Those are my only complaints though.

Lots of fun in the sun and highly recommended if you're looking for an uplifting read for your summer holidays—or something to warm you up in the depths of bleakest winter.

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spaghettireads's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-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

3.75

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inkdrinkeranonymous's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

For Her Consideration was a fun and lighthearted book. It was heartwarming and made me smile. I loved the found family aspects and how each character was unique. I also appreciated having an older and fat main character. This book was a solid four stars and a fun quick read.

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decklededgess's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

trigger warnings: anxiety and depression, physical injury, adoption mention, car and biker accident

This was a super sweet and cute romance set in LA. Nina’s crisis after her ex gave her a 12 point list of why she was a terrible person leads to her self isolating and working as someone who ghostwrites emails for busy celebrities. That’s such a fun and weird premise. But also the emotional point of this book was super relatable. I too am a flight risk when someone tells me I made a mistake.

Nina meeting Ari and the two of them building a relationship was super cute. I liked reading about Nina struggling to parse out her feelings about Ari, about her job and her writing, reconnecting with friends and more. Her self doubt and fear of being a problem to those she cared about was really well done.

I kind of missed having Ari’s POV. It’s just Nina narrating the romance so I didn’t get an opportunity to connect to Ari’s side of the romance. But since Nina’s emotional growth was such a significant component of the book it makes sense.

I am a little hesitant about the mention of adoption agencies and the subplot of two characters looking into adopting a child. It’s not significant but the harm that adoption agencies have done to children and to birth parents while simultaneously exploiting people who want children is too big of an issue not to mention it in relation to this book. It’s insignificant in the grand scheme of things but for a romance, seeing adoption agencies thrown in as a happy ending really did not fit the vibe. But it’s like a total of four paragraphs in the book so not a huge impact.

I was quite chuffed that the main character is fat and that’s that. Like the story did a wonderful job of just letting her exist. It wasn’t about her size, it wasn’t about how people reacted to her around the diet culture of LA, it wasn’t a Nina learning to love her body. All those stories are so valuable but one book about a fat woman living her gay life in LA learning to be fully happy with her career and love life was a really lovely thing to come across. [as a straight sized person my opinion here is that of an outsider. an own voices review would serve you better in understanding the fat rep in this book]

Overall a fun book! I was disappointed the smut wasn’t more detailed but you can’t win ‘em all.

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