Scan barcode
maddibleu's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.75
No empathy for someone grieving.
I was really enjoying this until we got to Dean’s “growth” or redemption arc or whatever. I honestly found Allie’s behavior and thoughts about Dean’s grief to be kind of disgusting. The whole situation was Dean’s best friend dies (as a plot device to show he can’t handle “difficult things” because he’s always been able to “throw money to fix things). So his friend dies and Dean starts to spiral into his grief. Drinking but still functioning through class and hockey. But he’s in a dark place, disconnected from his friends and Allie.
After THREE WEEKS, Allie starts to get tired of his behavior and uses it to solidify the fact that Dean’s basically jumps ship when confronted with difficult things, rather than facing them (his friend’s death) head-on and working through his feelings rather than avoiding.
Allie’s whole thought process was gross. The multiple “I shouldn’t judge how someone else grieves” but then doing it over and over. She was only thinking of herself. He misses her performance because he’s partying with the football team (who also just lost their best friend!!!) and she dumps Dean for not “growing up.”
He’s apologetic, but still out of it a bit, and says he’ll go to tomorrow’s show. But she “doesn’t want him there.” In any other situation besides him grieving the death of his best friend, I would write him off as an asshole who’s just blowing Allie office, but it’s been THREE WEEKS and everyone acts like he should already be able to face and move past his friend’s death.
This was such a shallow and horrible portrayal of grief. If an author is going to kill someone off as a plot device to give a character some dynamic growth, then that character should at least be given the space to grieve.
On top of all this Allie lost her mom as a child and has a father who has an incurable illness. You’d think she’d have more empathy and understanding. This book was about making Dean right for Allie, but not about making sure Allie was right for Dean. Ruined it for me.
I was really enjoying this until we got to Dean’s “growth” or redemption arc or whatever. I honestly found Allie’s behavior and thoughts about Dean’s grief to be kind of disgusting. The whole situation was Dean’s best friend dies (as a plot device to show he can’t handle “difficult things” because he’s always been able to “throw money to fix things). So his friend dies and Dean starts to spiral into his grief. Drinking but still functioning through class and hockey. But he’s in a dark place, disconnected from his friends and Allie.
After THREE WEEKS, Allie starts to get tired of his behavior and uses it to solidify the fact that Dean’s basically jumps ship when confronted with difficult things, rather than facing them (his friend’s death) head-on and working through his feelings rather than avoiding.
Allie’s whole thought process was gross. The multiple “I shouldn’t judge how someone else grieves” but then doing it over and over. She was only thinking of herself. He misses her performance because he’s partying with the football team (who also just lost their best friend!!!) and she dumps Dean for not “growing up.”
He’s apologetic, but still out of it a bit, and says he’ll go to tomorrow’s show. But she “doesn’t want him there.” In any other situation besides him grieving the death of his best friend, I would write him off as an asshole who’s just blowing Allie office, but it’s been THREE WEEKS and everyone acts like he should already be able to face and move past his friend’s death.
This was such a shallow and horrible portrayal of grief. If an author is going to kill someone off as a plot device to give a character some dynamic growth, then that character should at least be given the space to grieve.
On top of all this Allie lost her mom as a child and has a father who has an incurable illness. You’d think she’d have more empathy and understanding. This book was about making Dean right for Allie, but not about making sure Allie was right for Dean. Ruined it for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death, and Death of parent
kamreher's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
per my spreadsheet:
This one had me CRYIN
i'm sorry but how dare this book do this to me.
This one had me CRYIN
i'm sorry but how dare this book do this to me.
spice 🌶 - a 4 🌶 spicy (romance.io scale)
length - just right
reading speed - read in 2 days
did it make me cry? - .. yes.
did it make me cry? - .. yes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Sexual content
kamelleruano's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Cursing, and Alcohol
lindsaymck's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Allie and Dean are definitely the spiciest of the couples and were very entertaining to read about!
Dean has main character energy, for sure. I like how the author always seems to peel back the layers on her MMCs to reveal that there is more to them than meets the eye. They are not what their first impression might lead you to believe and I admire how she showed Dean’s true colors. The male characters always seem to have bit more growth and evolution, but as a female reader…I love that.
I found Allie’s attitude towards casual sex relatable and respected her taking a breather to know herself as an individual before becoming part of a couple again.
Big bombshell dropped at the end of the book makes me eager to dive into #4 and see how the previous books’ characters come into play now that they’ve all graduated.
Dean has main character energy, for sure. I like how the author always seems to peel back the layers on her MMCs to reveal that there is more to them than meets the eye. They are not what their first impression might lead you to believe and I admire how she showed Dean’s true colors. The male characters always seem to have bit more growth and evolution, but as a female reader…I love that.
I found Allie’s attitude towards casual sex relatable and respected her taking a breather to know herself as an individual before becoming part of a couple again.
Big bombshell dropped at the end of the book makes me eager to dive into #4 and see how the previous books’ characters come into play now that they’ve all graduated.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Death, and Car accident
jetty_books's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
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: Alcoholism, Cursing, Alcohol, Drug use, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death and Car accident
Minor: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship
catastrophiclyss's review
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Vomit, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Stalking, Vomit, Abandonment, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Blood, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Death of parent
elmead's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Dean offers to be Allie’s rebound after she breaks up with her long term boyfriend. It’s no issue for Dean, because he’s the king of casual sex. Except, he can’t stop thinking about Allie and their night together.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Grief
Minor: Car accident
shaydecker's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Suicidal thoughts
sarahthenerd's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
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
4.25
Okay, going into this book was decent because of The Score. I didn't feel any anticipation or hype when and after reading it. But as the story slowly progress, I was invested. Dean reminds me of Garrett a bit but way wilder than Garrett sexually. John, I love his calm aura. He doesn't display much of his sex life like Garrett and Dean.
But anyways, I love the dynamic between Allie and Dean. It doesn't feel force, although at first it felt it was so that they both have attraction towards each other. After Allie and Sean broke up and her get together with Dean kinda feel like a bit force because she suddenly feel sexually attracted to him. As for him, he's attracted to every vagina haver. I always liked Dean since The Deal. IDK male characters who are a manwhore always makes me giggle and have a soft spot for them in my heart (IRL? No.). What I like abt Dean, beside high active sex life is how his character now one dimensional. Which a lot of male characters tend to be one dimensional not matter what the trope is. I guess that's the problem with current romance books. Writing and selling books solely based on tropes bcs marketing strategy. Which goes into that this series was released b4 trope were introduced. I also like how his rich family background is not the main issue. His family is very supportive and very refreshing to me. It's rare that character who comes from a rich family don't have a dark and sad tragic backstory. I don't think he doesn't have any tragic backstory that haunts him wholly. Which mould together perfectly with Allie as she has tragic backstory. And again, a rare thing to happen because it's usually the male characters.
Because of the reasons above, I gave this a 4.5⭐ I really enjoyed it. I love this more than The Deal. But sometimes I really do wish we get to read from Garrett, Logan and Hannah’s POV to see the outlook of Dean and Allie’s relationship. Especially Logan’s, I want to read what goes through his head during and after the bathroom scene LMAO.
EDIT: I’m giving this a 4.25 after a few days of reconsideration that the start off for Allie and Dean’s relationship wasn't so smooth as currently I’m reading Tucker’s book (The Goal) and realizing the same thing. Same thing with Logan and Grace’s relationship (The Mistake). I feel like Garrett's and Hannah’s relationship that I feel very genuine and well written relationship in this series.
But anyways, I love the dynamic between Allie and Dean. It doesn't feel force, although at first it felt it was so that they both have attraction towards each other. After Allie and Sean broke up and her get together with Dean kinda feel like a bit force because she suddenly feel sexually attracted to him. As for him, he's attracted to every vagina haver. I always liked Dean since The Deal. IDK male characters who are a manwhore always makes me giggle and have a soft spot for them in my heart (IRL? No.). What I like abt Dean, beside high active sex life is how his character now one dimensional. Which a lot of male characters tend to be one dimensional not matter what the trope is. I guess that's the problem with current romance books. Writing and selling books solely based on tropes bcs marketing strategy. Which goes into that this series was released b4 trope were introduced. I also like how his rich family background is not the main issue. His family is very supportive and very refreshing to me. It's rare that character who comes from a rich family don't have a dark and sad tragic backstory. I don't think he doesn't have any tragic backstory that haunts him wholly. Which mould together perfectly with Allie as she has tragic backstory. And again, a rare thing to happen because it's usually the male characters.
Because of the reasons above, I gave this a 4.5⭐ I really enjoyed it. I love this more than The Deal. But sometimes I really do wish we get to read from Garrett, Logan and Hannah’s POV to see the outlook of Dean and Allie’s relationship. Especially Logan’s, I want to read what goes through his head during and after the bathroom scene LMAO.
EDIT: I’m giving this a 4.25 after a few days of reconsideration that the start off for Allie and Dean’s relationship wasn't so smooth as currently I’m reading Tucker’s book (The Goal) and realizing the same thing. Same thing with Logan and Grace’s relationship (The Mistake). I feel like Garrett's and Hannah’s relationship that I feel very genuine and well written relationship in this series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Car accident
Minor: Suicide
val333's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Car accident and Drug use