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emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Alcohol
emotional
funny
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Alcohol
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, Murder
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
slow-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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse
Minor: Mental illness
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Sexual content, Death of parent
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness
Minor: Alcohol
A cult that ended in the members dying by a fire (the cult leader had them set it) is talked about/investigated throughout the novel. At one point they go to the old compund. The infidelity is not between the two but the leading ladies dad and the leading man's wife (with his best friend not her dad) both are in the past but are plot points in the novel.
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Adorable; I laughed out loud many a time reading this. Not sure why everyone's calling it "enemies to lovers," though - they never seem to dislike each other to any serious degree or for any significant amount of time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness, Suicide
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Yes
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
🌶️🌶️.5/5
🌶️🌶️.5/5
“I’ve never met someone who is so perfectly my favourite person”
Every time I read this book I fall in love with it all over again. Through her characters Emily Henry challenges the stigma surrounding romance writers and female authors, and their works, in general. I am awed by the sensitivity with which Henry has woven together the complex and traumatic backgrounds (and present lives) of these MCs, actively avoiding any pre-packaged ‘Happily Ever After’ which would require either character to compromise their needs, or gloss over heavy issues to skip to the end. This novel balances humour with deeper issues, which are handled with care. Secondary characters bring an extra layer of life to the story, with found and unconventional family whose support - and meddling - is unwavering. Beach Read had me audibly snort-laughing from the second page, and after reading it four times I can safely say it does not get old. Forever on my Comfort Read list. ✨
“I wanted to know whether you could ever fully know someone. If knowing how they were—how they moved and spoke and the faces they made and the things they tried not to look at—amounted to knowing them. Or if knowing things about them—where they’d been born, all the people they’d been, who they’d loved, the worlds they’d come from—added up to anything.”
📚 First person POV (January)
📚 Enemies-to-Lovers
📚 Rival authors; this novel explores the stigma surrounding romance writers and treatment of female authors, and their works, in general. 😍
📚 Forced proximity
📚 BANTER! 🙌🏻
📚 Meddling family
📚 Feminist read
📚 Well established secondary characters; Shadi is my spirit animal and I want to keep her forever.
📚 Growth in the MCs; plot explores childhood traumas and family secrets impacting the characters’ self worth and relationships.
📚 On my comfort read list. Emily Henry’s books are always must-reads for me.
Gus:
“In college, I’d thought he was lazy about everything except writing. Now I wondered if he was simply tired, if life had beaten him into a permanent slouch, folded him over himself so no one could get at that soft center,”
January:
“somehow by being a woman who writes about women, I’ve eliminated half the Earth’s population from my potential readers, and you know what? I don’t feel ashamed of that. I feel pissed.”
⚠️ Parent with cancer, death of a parent, grief, infidelity (parent), child/domestic abuse (in the past), cult (investigated for a book), vomit, toxic relationship, mental illness & going to therapy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book. It was funny and lighthearted. It felt like two friends who met and didn’t plan on falling in love but did. It felt realistic and warm. Would recommend and would read again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Alcohol