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emotional
funny
hopeful
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: Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Vomit
Minor: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
This book was made for the girlies with dead dads. Such beautiful writing. I loved this book and yet at times I absolutely hated it because I understood the main character, January, so well. Had me sobbing in the middle of a work day so be prepared that while this is a romance novel and deals with two people falling in love, it also deals heavily with grief, abusive situations and the trauma that leaves, how good people end up in bad situations, and the simple factors of life and emotions. This book can be represented well musically by phoebe bridgers’ album Punisher and specifically the song “Kyoto” off of it.
My biggest problems were that I felt like January was never really described so I never knew how to picture her in my head and also Gus and his continual closed-off-ness made me annoyed at him during parts. But any book that makes me cry like this deserves 5 stars.
My biggest problems were that I felt like January was never really described so I never knew how to picture her in my head and also Gus and his continual closed-off-ness made me annoyed at him during parts. But any book that makes me cry like this deserves 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Misogyny, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Car accident
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
CW: graphic depictions of child abuse and physical abuse, mention of cults and detailed depictions of cult life, graphic depiction and mention of car accident death, death of a parent, infidelity, cancer, and some ableist language.
I have complicated feelings on this book. I liked the writing and enjoyed the story but it felt like too much was happening at once plot-wise. Also the abuse scenes were very triggering for me. There should've been a warning at the beginning of the book or at least the beginning of those chapters because it was definitely a surprise for me. There are graphic depictions of physical abuse from Gus's father that he recounts and details. It really threw me for a loop and I was unprepared for that to be mentioned at least 2-3 times. There's a way to mention that he's been a victim and survivor of child abuse without going into detail, in my opinion.
I liked January at the beginning but as I read her more, she started to feel like a red flag. I HATED how January just didn't communicate with Gus AT ALL. She would get mad at him but not tell him why and that made me SO ANGRY. Then, toward the end, I thought I knew the characters pretty well but then their choices just confused the hell out of me.
However, I liked Gus a lot. I love a brooding character and his character development was stellar. I just felt like these characters had too much going on mentally & internally that it wasn't the right time for either of them to date which really took away from me rooting for their romance. It was a rollercoaster ride pretty much!
Some word choices were questionable and I felt like the sex scenes writing wise were recycled? She uses the word "skating" so much in every sex scene. Besides that, I really liked the sex scenes and the book was well written.
I have complicated feelings on this book. I liked the writing and enjoyed the story but it felt like too much was happening at once plot-wise. Also the abuse scenes were very triggering for me. There should've been a warning at the beginning of the book or at least the beginning of those chapters because it was definitely a surprise for me. There are graphic depictions of physical abuse from Gus's father that he recounts and details. It really threw me for a loop and I was unprepared for that to be mentioned at least 2-3 times. There's a way to mention that he's been a victim and survivor of child abuse without going into detail, in my opinion.
I liked January at the beginning but as I read her more, she started to feel like a red flag. I HATED how January just didn't communicate with Gus AT ALL. She would get mad at him but not tell him why and that made me SO ANGRY. Then, toward the end, I thought I knew the characters pretty well but then their choices just confused the hell out of me.
However, I liked Gus a lot. I love a brooding character and his character development was stellar. I just felt like these characters had too much going on mentally & internally that it wasn't the right time for either of them to date which really took away from me rooting for their romance. It was a rollercoaster ride pretty much!
Some word choices were questionable and I felt like the sex scenes writing wise were recycled? She uses the word "skating" so much in every sex scene. Besides that, I really liked the sex scenes and the book was well written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Car accident
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent
Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-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
This book was really good. And I say it like that because, once again, this is not my go-to genre. But, once again, was a suggestion from my monthly reading group and I decided to give it a chance.
This is not a typical romance in a sense that are some really dark and heavy topics represented: domestic abuse, a cult, death... the kind of themes that are not associated when you ear the genre romance.
I really enjoyed this book. I like how dark and mysterious Gus is and how fragile and hurt January feels. And I like the way both of them decide to give each other a chance (although, sometimes, January frustrated me a lot). The best part about this book is that it shows that two people with completely opposite visions of the world can find common ground.
I really liked this book and will look for more books by Emily Henry.
This is not a typical romance in a sense that are some really dark and heavy topics represented: domestic abuse, a cult, death... the kind of themes that are not associated when you ear the genre romance.
I really enjoyed this book. I like how dark and mysterious Gus is and how fragile and hurt January feels. And I like the way both of them decide to give each other a chance (although, sometimes, January frustrated me a lot). The best part about this book is that it shows that two people with completely opposite visions of the world can find common ground.
I really liked this book and will look for more books by Emily Henry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Cursing, Car accident, Alcohol
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fun book! The audiobook narration is great, highly recommend it. My largest complaint with the structure of the story is that there seemed to be both too much and not enough of the plot line outside of the romance—I wanted to care more about the book-research plot line but there just wasn’t enough of it to keep me interested; it didn’t feel connected enough to the rest of the story for its placement to make sense. There were definitely more than a few lines that had me rolling my eyes, but overall, the dialogue was funny and captivating. Fun summer read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity
Minor: Child death, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a wonderful book. I am not surprised by that considering that I’ve read Emily Henry’s books before. The only disappointing part was that I expected to cry and didn’t. That definitely doesn’t take away from how much I loved the romance between the main characters. I think the book was also extremely funny at times. January and Gus’s banter was perfection, absolutely my favorite part. I also really appreciated how we got to see their books unfolded at the end. 100% would recommend this book for summer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death, Car accident
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
fast-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: Child abuse, Suicide, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Car accident
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol
Minor: Vomit, Car accident
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Two rival authors end up next door neighbors after each facing a personal tragedy, then they meet and decide to challenge one another by swapping genres and writing a book in the other’s genre.
This was a fun, delightful, little snack of a book. I liked the storyline and it was a cute story. Totally recommend if you’re looking for a literal beach read. And it has one of the best quotes I’ve seen in a book.
"Your mother has been a lot of people in the twenty years I've known her, and I've had a chance to fall in love with every single one of them, Janie. That's the key to marriage. You have to keep falling in love with every new version of each other, and it's the best feeling in the whole world."
I wish more couples realized this going into marriage. “He’s not the man I married 15 years ago!” Well, of course not! No one is who they were 15 years ago. You will both change, grow, and evolve and you have to continually get to know one another and you get to fall in love over and over and over again.
Small spoiler alert ahead: For those of you that have read this, I understand the irony of who said/wrote this and why it was written, but the validity and truth of that statement still stands.
Small spoiler alert ahead: For those of you that have read this, I understand the irony of who said/wrote this and why it was written, but the validity and truth of that statement still stands.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Car accident