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charlieavocado's review against another edition
4.0
Torn between a rating of 3.5 and 4.5. The story itself is great. Content is pretty PG-13, so YMMV on that aspect. However, THE NEED WITH WHICH THIS BOOK NEEDED AN EDITOR! You have things that a spellcheck would have caught, but it obviously wasn't used. One line says to "put the breaks" on something. I mean, c'mon. Drove me up the wall. Incase is a company, "in case" is how it should be styled. Proper usage of hyphens and capitalization is apparently optional.
Also, the ending felt incredibly rushed and needed another chapter worth of material, and perhaps an epilogue.
Read it, but do so with something intoxicating.
Also, the ending felt incredibly rushed and needed another chapter worth of material, and perhaps an epilogue.
Read it, but do so with something intoxicating.
hnagle15's review
1.0
I have been flying through Erica Lee's books lately and this is by far my least favourite. Was long, drawn out, and I just couldn't connect with the characters.
genej101's review against another edition
2.0
I love this genre but by the end of this book, I could not stand EITHER of the protagonists. I found myself yelling at the book more often than enjoying it. So many reasons.
I'm going to begin with one that has been a pet peeve of mine forever. When I was young and newly employed, I was invited to join a group of peers at morning break every day. I lasted a week. They were like these supporting characters. I get being upset with people whose policies, politics you disagree with and not treating them well, or always respectfully. I absolutely cannot abide people who treat each "jokingly" as cruelly as these friends do. Those who make "funny" comments meant to demean and deride their friends, as the friends and relatives in this book do at all times. When someone asks you to STOP teasing them, you DO that. You don't continually pick at them as these people do. Their orientation does not give them the right to do that. That's not an orientation issue, it's a decent human issue. And they NEVER stop. Which is why I left that group as a young man, that's how they treated each other and I couldn't stand it. I'd rather be alone, with a book, or my thoughts than around people who are so disrespectful (all in good fun) to each other. For what it's worth, I was right, they were wrong. It was I who moved up the career ladder, none of them ever did.
Then, Rory and Jenny meet at roughly age 24, each suffering from trauma, Rory's self-inflicted because she never TALKED to her mother about her issues with commitment, Jenny's because she never really got over how badly she was treated in high school when her heart was broken. Then for YEARS more, they pretend their feelings aren't real, that the other couldn't possibly have grown or changed because they refuse to actually TALK to each other about their deepest desires and fears. They nearly lose what appears to be a lifelong love because they are so horrible at reading each other and they won't actually TALK to each other about other than casual things. I was so angry with them by the end of the book that I didn't care on the last freaking page they finally grew up.
I am rarely frustrated by books, but this one, including the inexplicable convention of NOT numbering the pages, so that I could figure out how much more I had to suffer through, just annoyed me at every turn, from their smirking friends, to their thick headed density and consistent denial of ever revealing what they actually felt. When they did brush near the truth of them, one of them would somehow err and the other would not only misread it but refuse to call the other on their avoidance of real, in depth conversation about how they felt. I get trauma causes people to act in ways not helpful to them, but not even individual therapy opened these two girls eyes to their own truth. And, of course, both are absolutely stunning and perfect in every way, but all they SEE are each others bodies, never their souls. And, it is deep within our souls where love lives. I couldn't keep track of how much time passed but by the time they actually get together in the last few pages, they're now somewhere in their 30's. Enough to make a grown man cry.
Are people NEVER going to learn how to relate to each other? Will our sentience always be our doom? That's what I'm left with. And relief that this read is finally over, not one I'll ever look at again. I bought this, and one other, because I liked Life Begins With You, mostly, Cassie and Rebecca show up in this book too, near the end, but when I finished this one, I immediately got up and looked through my unread books hoping there was not another one by this author, found one and just though, omg, I don't know if I can take anymore. Last time I by books without more research on the author and I've bought thousands in my lifetime.
I'm going to begin with one that has been a pet peeve of mine forever. When I was young and newly employed, I was invited to join a group of peers at morning break every day. I lasted a week. They were like these supporting characters. I get being upset with people whose policies, politics you disagree with and not treating them well, or always respectfully. I absolutely cannot abide people who treat each "jokingly" as cruelly as these friends do. Those who make "funny" comments meant to demean and deride their friends, as the friends and relatives in this book do at all times. When someone asks you to STOP teasing them, you DO that. You don't continually pick at them as these people do. Their orientation does not give them the right to do that. That's not an orientation issue, it's a decent human issue. And they NEVER stop. Which is why I left that group as a young man, that's how they treated each other and I couldn't stand it. I'd rather be alone, with a book, or my thoughts than around people who are so disrespectful (all in good fun) to each other. For what it's worth, I was right, they were wrong. It was I who moved up the career ladder, none of them ever did.
Then, Rory and Jenny meet at roughly age 24, each suffering from trauma, Rory's self-inflicted because she never TALKED to her mother about her issues with commitment, Jenny's because she never really got over how badly she was treated in high school when her heart was broken. Then for YEARS more, they pretend their feelings aren't real, that the other couldn't possibly have grown or changed because they refuse to actually TALK to each other about their deepest desires and fears. They nearly lose what appears to be a lifelong love because they are so horrible at reading each other and they won't actually TALK to each other about other than casual things. I was so angry with them by the end of the book that I didn't care on the last freaking page they finally grew up.
I am rarely frustrated by books, but this one, including the inexplicable convention of NOT numbering the pages, so that I could figure out how much more I had to suffer through, just annoyed me at every turn, from their smirking friends, to their thick headed density and consistent denial of ever revealing what they actually felt. When they did brush near the truth of them, one of them would somehow err and the other would not only misread it but refuse to call the other on their avoidance of real, in depth conversation about how they felt. I get trauma causes people to act in ways not helpful to them, but not even individual therapy opened these two girls eyes to their own truth. And, of course, both are absolutely stunning and perfect in every way, but all they SEE are each others bodies, never their souls. And, it is deep within our souls where love lives. I couldn't keep track of how much time passed but by the time they actually get together in the last few pages, they're now somewhere in their 30's. Enough to make a grown man cry.
Are people NEVER going to learn how to relate to each other? Will our sentience always be our doom? That's what I'm left with. And relief that this read is finally over, not one I'll ever look at again. I bought this, and one other, because I liked Life Begins With You, mostly, Cassie and Rebecca show up in this book too, near the end, but when I finished this one, I immediately got up and looked through my unread books hoping there was not another one by this author, found one and just though, omg, I don't know if I can take anymore. Last time I by books without more research on the author and I've bought thousands in my lifetime.
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