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martereadsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, and Car accident
Minor: Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Suicide
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Car accident
Moderate: Grief, Child death, and Blood
Minor: Cursing, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Cancer, Classism, Abandonment, Addiction, and Religious bigotry
fe_aye's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Grief, Lesbophobia, Death, and Homophobia
Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Cursing, and Terminal illness
anna_wa's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Let's start with the things I adored. I adored Ash and Poppy's love for each other. I adored Ash's family (especially her sister Rosh) and her best friend Adara. I adored Adara's passion about global warming and her Mom Friend level protectiveness over Ash. I adored Poppy's love of life and cafes and dreams to be like her mom one day. And I adored Dev and Esen.
To sum it all up in one single sentence: I adored the characters and the relationships they shared with each other. Byrne is great at dialogue and at creating characters who I quickly root for and can feel what they feel by reading the descriptions of it.
Also, the ending was beautiful. No spoilers I promise but it definitely left me feeling very reflective and hopeful about my own life.
But on the other hand... there were several things I didn't like. First off, and most importantly, I know that Ash is in love with Poppy and their love was brand new when Ash died so of course it makes sense that Poppy is Ash's main focus after she dies. But what about her parents? Her sister? Adara? She clearly loved them as well when she was alive, but we don't get to see her thinking about them post-death nearly as often as Poppy. And again, I get it; they're in love and their love was brand new when she died - but surely she would still want to know how her family and Adara are doing. It doesn't make sense that she never tries to find out how they are doing without her.
And in addition to that, there were several times when the flow felt a little weird to me. Like, the scenes themselves were beautifully written but it wasn't always 100% clear how one scene connected to another scene.
Finally, the biggest thing that stuck out like a sore thumb to me: All. the. shrugging. How did an editor not notice and point out how many darn times characters shrug in this book? I wish Byrne would have gone back and ctrl + f'd for all instances of "shrug" so that a few could be changed to a different verb, or no verb at all.
Other than the shrugging, I guess my critiques can be summed up as wishing this book was longer. If this book was longer, maybe "before" and "after" could have been spread out more and there could have been clearer transitions from scene to scene, as well as more time for Ash to think about the people she left behind who aren't Poppy. Maybe see one of them out and about the way she did with Poppy.
All in all though I did enjoy this book. And reading Byrne's acknowledgements discussing why this book was created: the feelings Byrne experienced after a personal loss, living life in "before" and "after", and wanting to show how that feels in a book, made me appreciate it more.
Graphic: Death and Car accident
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Homophobia
Minor: Cursing
fujo_cat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
This is my second read of 2022 and it's a great way to start off the year! 💕
On a more serious note, this was a fantastic reading experience. In a way, it made me imagine how it must feel losing my current partner and it fucking hurts. It hurts so much it made me feel... I don't know, more at peace with the idea of it? It gave me closure, you could say :')
If death (or any of the trigger warnings in it) as a theme doesn't trigger you, then yes, I do recommend it a lot!! 🌈😤👌
Graphic: Car accident and Death
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Grief, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Abandonment
Minor: Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Racism, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Blood, and Alcohol
alphabetmafiamember's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Suicide, Sexual content, and Death
Minor: Racism, Vomit, Cursing, Car accident, and Alcohol