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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
Wow wow wow! I loved this one so much. Two book pals raved about this one when it came out in 2023 so I promptly bought it excitedly from Aardvark for it to sit on my bookshelf for two years hahaha (why am I like this? đź« ) Highly recommend this for fans of messy coming of age fiction and platonic love stories!!!!
When Rachel meets James when working at a Cork bookstore at University, the pair are immediately best friends. They move in together and Rachel thinks of herself as an adult for the first time. She’s drawn to married professor Dr Fred Byrne and has the bookstore throw an event for his upcoming book when she discovers Fred and James have a connection. The three become intertwined for a year, thrust into chaos and secrets while trying to make ends meet.
The core of this book is James and Rachel’s deep and human friendship (hence the “Tomorrow” comparison below.) O’Donoghue uses dual timelines, with Rachel looking back on her final college year in detail. This was clever and really propelled the story, while making it fun for the reader to fill in the pieces of what happened. I love a complicated and flawed female coming of age story - while I rooted for Rachel, I was often so mad at her! This was fun and funny but held so many deep themes around classism and female reproductive rights. This one will stay with me for a long time!
✨Content Warnings: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Abortion, Infidelity, Sexual Content, Homophobia, Medical Content, Classism, Death of a Parent, Cancer
✨Themes: Friendship, Growth, Class
✨You May Like This If You Enjoyed:
-Adelaide (Genevieve Wheeler)
-Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin)
When Rachel meets James when working at a Cork bookstore at University, the pair are immediately best friends. They move in together and Rachel thinks of herself as an adult for the first time. She’s drawn to married professor Dr Fred Byrne and has the bookstore throw an event for his upcoming book when she discovers Fred and James have a connection. The three become intertwined for a year, thrust into chaos and secrets while trying to make ends meet.
The core of this book is James and Rachel’s deep and human friendship (hence the “Tomorrow” comparison below.) O’Donoghue uses dual timelines, with Rachel looking back on her final college year in detail. This was clever and really propelled the story, while making it fun for the reader to fill in the pieces of what happened. I love a complicated and flawed female coming of age story - while I rooted for Rachel, I was often so mad at her! This was fun and funny but held so many deep themes around classism and female reproductive rights. This one will stay with me for a long time!
✨Content Warnings: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Abortion, Infidelity, Sexual Content, Homophobia, Medical Content, Classism, Death of a Parent, Cancer
✨Themes: Friendship, Growth, Class
✨You May Like This If You Enjoyed:
-Adelaide (Genevieve Wheeler)
-Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin)
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
funny
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
tense
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:
Complicated
emotional
funny
reflective
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
adventurous
funny
tense
This turned into a quick read because I never had a dull moment or felt the pace drag. It’s got a digestible scope where we touch on issues of class, privilege and abortion but it doesn’t go to the extent of an afterschool special or award bait. Rachel was frustrating at times but also felt very real and believable. It wasn’t the deepest book on the shelf but I enjoyed every page.
emotional
funny
reflective
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