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tink's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I liked this book enough to read to the end. I loved the diverse cast and loved most of the characters. They were the highlight for me. I enjoy a bit of spice as much as the next reader but, for me, this book was about 100 pages too long, seemingly just to add a few more spicy scenes. The epilogue was predictable, sickly sweet, and I could have done without it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, and Eating disorder
readingisfun14's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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
4.0
Great, fun, hockey romance. Loved both main characters. Side characters were also critical to story - I love them all. No miscommunication (thank god!). Solid read. Would recommend which I don’t do lightly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Sexual harassment
serenachowna's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual harassment
netaliv3's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship
sea_tea_books's review against another edition
emotional
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
3.0
Brief Summary: I'm in the Henry fan club, and I'm not down with binge drinking.
. . . . .
Could have done without that particular ending. Also, I'm not a fan of the binge drinking/alcoholism and excessive swearing in this story. Maybe I just don't like college romance books? I would have liked to read more about the connections that developed between the various characters when they weren't drunk.
Plenty of spice. Seriously, it was a lot.
Maple Hills had almost cozy vibes . . . but only if the character had a trust fund or was connected to someone with money. We weren't privy to the "other side" of Maple Hills.
There were so many characters that were introduced but not developed so I tripped on a few characters that I didn't recognize sprinkled throughout the story. As far as characters go, Henry was the most likeable. I'd read another Maple Hills book if he was the main character. (hint hint)
. . . . .
Could have done without that particular ending. Also, I'm not a fan of the binge drinking/alcoholism and excessive swearing in this story. Maybe I just don't like college romance books? I would have liked to read more about the connections that developed between the various characters when they weren't drunk.
Plenty of spice. Seriously, it was a lot.
Maple Hills had almost cozy vibes . . . but only if the character had a trust fund or was connected to someone with money. We weren't privy to the "other side" of Maple Hills.
There were so many characters that were introduced but not developed so I tripped on a few characters that I didn't recognize sprinkled throughout the story. As far as characters go, Henry was the most likeable. I'd read another Maple Hills book if he was the main character. (hint hint)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Cursing, Classism, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Body shaming, Alcoholism, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
shansbookjournal's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Mental illness
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
ashleycmms's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
slow-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? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, and Body shaming
Minor: Sexual harassment and Infidelity
girlreading's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.0
So this was absolutely adorable although also a lot spicier than I’d expected…
The romance itself was sweet and caring and filled with banter and Lola and the ice hockey team, with their protectiveness have stolen my heart (especially you, Henry). This was definitely more character driven than plot heavy but I really enjoyed its more mundane, slice of life, adult coming-of-age vibe. With all that being said, think my favourite part of this book was the way Anastasia’s relationship with food and her body was explored. It was sensitive and honest, without throwing around numbers or too many glaring potential triggers. The way Nathan and the surrounding cast (besides Aaron, who has officially made it into my list most hated characters) approached Anastasia’s struggles with care, love and patience filled my heart with warmth.
Overall, this was a super sweet (and spicy) heartwarming, funny and enjoyable romance and I look forward to continuing this series.
TW: disordered eating, body shaming, fatphobia, sexual harassment
The romance itself was sweet and caring and filled with banter and Lola and the ice hockey team, with their protectiveness have stolen my heart (especially you, Henry). This was definitely more character driven than plot heavy but I really enjoyed its more mundane, slice of life, adult coming-of-age vibe. With all that being said, think my favourite part of this book was the way Anastasia’s relationship with food and her body was explored. It was sensitive and honest, without throwing around numbers or too many glaring potential triggers. The way Nathan and the surrounding cast (besides Aaron, who has officially made it into my list most hated characters) approached Anastasia’s struggles with care, love and patience filled my heart with warmth.
Overall, this was a super sweet (and spicy) heartwarming, funny and enjoyable romance and I look forward to continuing this series.
TW: disordered eating, body shaming, fatphobia, sexual harassment
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Gaslighting
yarnarh's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The amount of nicknames and duo pov makes it hard to follow sometimes. Especially if you did not read the book for a few days. Sex scene was ok. Not as graphic as what I thought with all the TikTok hype.
Parts of the story made me so angry though. Definitely check your triggers. It’s not that graphic when it comes to triggers, but would be nice to know. TikTok didn’t say anything about those…
Parts of the story made me so angry though. Definitely check your triggers. It’s not that graphic when it comes to triggers, but would be nice to know. TikTok didn’t say anything about those…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, and Vomit
mama_mia98's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.0
Oh boy do I have a lot of feelings and thoughts about this book. Unfortunately I let booktok persuade me into checking this out and I cannot believe that this book has as big of following on that app as it does. While this is not the worst book I have read, there are some major red flags within the story and characters of this book that I couldn’t ignore while reading. As with many smutty romance novels, the two main characters are extremely predictable and are walking romance tropes. With a possessive tall man and a petite and hot headed short girl, I’m sure you can imagine how their relationship develops and what their sex life entails. While the premise of this novel was fun at times, there were particular smut scenes and character choices that leaned why too heavily into toxic and harmful ideologies that I just can’t get over.
*SPOILERS*
Content Warning: Discussion of non-consensual sex acts, kink/smut, eating disorders and emotional abuse.
Listen, I’m not here to get on anyone for enjoying a romance novel with smut, I myself have read romance novels with smut and enjoyed them. What I will give people a hard time for praising a smut scene where the main characters non-consensually have sex in front of all of their friends. Booktok will not stop taking about the Uber scene in this book and how great it is….. having your characters openly have sex in the back of an Uber with all of their drunk friends and the Uber driver in the car is fucking weird. While voyeurism is a kink that is often present in smutty romance, it is truly insane to have a scene where your characters have sex right next to their drunk and non consenting friends/Uber driver and play it off as just a hot little secret between the two of them. Having sex in front of people who are intoxicated and did not consent to participate in that is not hot, it’s sexual harassment and it’s gross. You can incorporate kink into your smut scenes all you want, but you have make sure that you are doing so in a way that doesn’t perpetuate sexual harassment and ignore consent. This book is clearly trying really hard to lean into the whole “bratty /dominate” trope but does so in a way that is just extremely toxic and also very annoying.
Along with the questionable smut, this book has one of the worst characters I have ever read about and with that character, the author handles the topic of eating disorders so poorly. Aaron (the main girls skating partner and friend/roommate) is so emotionally abusive and manipulative. This man not only talks down to Anastasia and makes her question her own abilities as an athlete, but he also controls what she eats and is constantly talking about her body and weight in an extremely manipulative way. This man LITERALLY created Anastasia an extremely restrictive meal plan that he ensures she follows, even commenting on her calorie intake and how her weight was impacting their ability to compete as figure skaters. Anastasia is literally tracking her calories for this man and when Nate (love interest) rightfully questions Aaron’s intention’s, Anastasia completely blows this off as Nate being jealous. This reaction from Anastasia makes sense initially since she’s been living and working with Aaron for so long she sees him as a trusted friend who would never possibly cause her harm. But for the author to then have Anastasia spend the majority of the book defending Aaron continuously to Nate even after she has discovered the horrible things he’s said behind her back feels like an extremely strange way to portray this situation. To write Aaron as so manipulative and controlling and then have Anastasia continuously make Nate’s concerns about Aaron’s behavior about Nate’s jealousy really undermines the seriousness of Aaron’s manipulation and abuse and Nate’s genuine concern over his girlfriend in this story. You can have a conversation around toxic masculinity and jealousy in romance, but that doesn’t necessarily work when the other man is truly an awful and abusive piece of shit causing immense harm to the main girl in the story.
On the topic of eating disorders in general, I don’t love how this book handled such a sensitive topic. There’s a lot of Anastasia just describing how she’s not eating and how she’s restricting herself which can be super harmful for people with eating disorders to read about, especially with no content warning for this book. Also there’s no mention of Anastasia talking to her therapist about any of her disordered eating or difficult thoughts around food as she tried to heal even though the book makes a very large point about her going to therapy and being really good at communicating with and trusting her therapist. Having Nate be the one to “fix” her and create a new meal plan for her and encourage her to eat better kinda feels like we’re romanticizing eating disorders and undermining how traumatic and life altering they can be. While having support during the healing process can be extremely important, an eating disorder is not something that your boyfriend can just “save” and “fix” you from. There is so much personal effort and hardship that goes into struggling with and overcoming an eating disorder, and this book uses that struggle to fulfill a fantasy about some man taking care of their girlfriend in a way that makes this books coverage of this topic very shallow and self-serving.
I didn’t want this book to be bad, if fact I when into this hoping I would enjoy it. But unfortunately I just couldn’t get over this authors choices around these topics. Smutty romance novels don’t need to romanticize eating disorders or non-consensual sex acts to be hot and enjoyable. There are better smutty romance novels out there…. I promise.
Content Warning: Discussion of non-consensual sex acts, kink/smut, eating disorders and emotional abuse.
Listen, I’m not here to get on anyone for enjoying a romance novel with smut, I myself have read romance novels with smut and enjoyed them. What I will give people a hard time for praising a smut scene where the main characters non-consensually have sex in front of all of their friends. Booktok will not stop taking about the Uber scene in this book and how great it is….. having your characters openly have sex in the back of an Uber with all of their drunk friends and the Uber driver in the car is fucking weird. While voyeurism is a kink that is often present in smutty romance, it is truly insane to have a scene where your characters have sex right next to their drunk and non consenting friends/Uber driver and play it off as just a hot little secret between the two of them. Having sex in front of people who are intoxicated and did not consent to participate in that is not hot, it’s sexual harassment and it’s gross. You can incorporate kink into your smut scenes all you want, but you have make sure that you are doing so in a way that doesn’t perpetuate sexual harassment and ignore consent. This book is clearly trying really hard to lean into the whole “bratty /dominate” trope but does so in a way that is just extremely toxic and also very annoying.
Along with the questionable smut, this book has one of the worst characters I have ever read about and with that character, the author handles the topic of eating disorders so poorly. Aaron (the main girls skating partner and friend/roommate) is so emotionally abusive and manipulative. This man not only talks down to Anastasia and makes her question her own abilities as an athlete, but he also controls what she eats and is constantly talking about her body and weight in an extremely manipulative way. This man LITERALLY created Anastasia an extremely restrictive meal plan that he ensures she follows, even commenting on her calorie intake and how her weight was impacting their ability to compete as figure skaters. Anastasia is literally tracking her calories for this man and when Nate (love interest) rightfully questions Aaron’s intention’s, Anastasia completely blows this off as Nate being jealous. This reaction from Anastasia makes sense initially since she’s been living and working with Aaron for so long she sees him as a trusted friend who would never possibly cause her harm. But for the author to then have Anastasia spend the majority of the book defending Aaron continuously to Nate even after she has discovered the horrible things he’s said behind her back feels like an extremely strange way to portray this situation. To write Aaron as so manipulative and controlling and then have Anastasia continuously make Nate’s concerns about Aaron’s behavior about Nate’s jealousy really undermines the seriousness of Aaron’s manipulation and abuse and Nate’s genuine concern over his girlfriend in this story. You can have a conversation around toxic masculinity and jealousy in romance, but that doesn’t necessarily work when the other man is truly an awful and abusive piece of shit causing immense harm to the main girl in the story.
On the topic of eating disorders in general, I don’t love how this book handled such a sensitive topic. There’s a lot of Anastasia just describing how she’s not eating and how she’s restricting herself which can be super harmful for people with eating disorders to read about, especially with no content warning for this book. Also there’s no mention of Anastasia talking to her therapist about any of her disordered eating or difficult thoughts around food as she tried to heal even though the book makes a very large point about her going to therapy and being really good at communicating with and trusting her therapist. Having Nate be the one to “fix” her and create a new meal plan for her and encourage her to eat better kinda feels like we’re romanticizing eating disorders and undermining how traumatic and life altering they can be. While having support during the healing process can be extremely important, an eating disorder is not something that your boyfriend can just “save” and “fix” you from. There is so much personal effort and hardship that goes into struggling with and overcoming an eating disorder, and this book uses that struggle to fulfill a fantasy about some man taking care of their girlfriend in a way that makes this books coverage of this topic very shallow and self-serving.
I didn’t want this book to be bad, if fact I when into this hoping I would enjoy it. But unfortunately I just couldn’t get over this authors choices around these topics. Smutty romance novels don’t need to romanticize eating disorders or non-consensual sex acts to be hot and enjoyable. There are better smutty romance novels out there…. I promise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Eating disorder