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maddysbooks_'s review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.0
this was so cute!
i thought the past and present timeline was so well thought out and well written. i also loved how the author incorporated the time stamps into the story.
i thought the relationship between elliott and ama was cute, however i wish we saw more of them before the wedding. i felt like there like 0-5% of interaction between the two of them in the present until the day of the wedding, which was the climax of the book.
i really enjoyed elliott and ama as separate characters though, so i felt like it made up for it.
the only thing i didn’t enjoy was hazels character. i thought it was odd for her to have these unlikable characteristics that seemed to be written in for no reason.
i thought the past and present timeline was so well thought out and well written. i also loved how the author incorporated the time stamps into the story.
i thought the relationship between elliott and ama was cute, however i wish we saw more of them before the wedding. i felt like there like 0-5% of interaction between the two of them in the present until the day of the wedding, which was the climax of the book.
i really enjoyed elliott and ama as separate characters though, so i felt like it made up for it.
the only thing i didn’t enjoy was hazels character. i thought it was odd for her to have these unlikable characteristics that seemed to be written in for no reason.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
poupimali's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.5
Elliot and Ama work together in every sense.
This a second chance romance.
Back and forth between the past and now.
The spice is 🌶️🌶️/5 but you’re here for the love story.
This a second chance romance.
Back and forth between the past and now.
The spice is 🌶️🌶️/5 but you’re here for the love story.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent and Cancer
superbrats's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Death of parent and Cancer
dkgreads's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It kinda felt like Ama was a different character in the present chapters versus the flashbacks, and that threw me a little. I loved how grumpy Elliot was. And I’d kill to see one of their weddings in real life. The descriptions of the flowers and venues were my favorite part.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer
alexasolis98's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Elliot was consistently rude and yet I'm supposed to believe he can run a business with that attitude. Ama was consistently stupid about Whitney. Like girl stop being suspicious and admit the truth you are experiencing. I didn't really get the romance in this book. I could see the lust, didn't really even get they were in love until way later in the book. I think we needed a bit more time with Ama's thoughts on her averison to marriage. I felt there was a lot that could have been unpacked there. Elliot's background could have been developed a bit more as well. Like why did his mom need to be a senator? Jackie was fine but Hazel was a bit of a brat.
P.S. This whole wedding planning was stressful.
P.S. This whole wedding planning was stressful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
marianaribeiro's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
victoriaorgana's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It’s a second chance romance and GAH how much do I get annoyed at those
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Gaslighting
corncake's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
2.75
This is for people who love romance books, and all their tropes.
It's something fun and easy-to-read, with decent pacing and a good dose of salacious content for booklovers who enjoy spice with their romance.
However, I did not love this book. I was entertained for the week I read it, and I didn't hate the writing...but the characters and their romance personally fell super flat for me.
To me, this was The Wedding Planner meets a fix-it fic of 500 Days of Summer.
It's sad because the beginning of the book had me hooked. I am a sucker for a character who knows how to do their job super well - and you could tell Ama knew her s***. I loved getting to know our heroine in those beginning chapters - how she operates her business, her relationships with her ex/current step-siblings, and her "I'm gonna make this happen" attitude.
Ama was a hardworking, empathetic girl boss with an ironic reason for becoming a wedding planner - and I loved the book for that. Sadly, as the story went on, I felt as if we lost a lot of that beginning Ama characterization to compensate for a romance that felt unbelievable (and not in the good way).
This was a second chance romance, but I have no idea why Ama and Elliot wanted to get back together. They clearly wanted different relationships(even ironically by the end of the book in what I imagine was supposed to be a "cute" and "funny" ending/new beginning for our couple) , had no chemistry together outside their sex scenes, and barely spoke with each other in the "current timeline" of the story to make me believe they were still in love.
Mutual pinning can only go so far. I need something more to sell me on their romance and why they even like each other. I believe they are great business partners, but they definitely need to see other people in the romance department.
I hope to read other books in the future by this author in hopes that I find one that lands for me. Unfortunately, the main couple and their boring relationship are what made me disinterested in this love story.
It's something fun and easy-to-read, with decent pacing and a good dose of salacious content for booklovers who enjoy spice with their romance.
However, I did not love this book. I was entertained for the week I read it, and I didn't hate the writing...but the characters and their romance personally fell super flat for me.
To me, this was The Wedding Planner meets a fix-it fic of 500 Days of Summer.
It's sad because the beginning of the book had me hooked. I am a sucker for a character who knows how to do their job super well - and you could tell Ama knew her s***. I loved getting to know our heroine in those beginning chapters - how she operates her business, her relationships with her ex/current step-siblings, and her "I'm gonna make this happen" attitude.
Ama was a hardworking, empathetic girl boss with an ironic reason for becoming a wedding planner - and I loved the book for that. Sadly, as the story went on, I felt as if we lost a lot of that beginning Ama characterization to compensate for a romance that felt unbelievable (and not in the good way).
This was a second chance romance, but I have no idea why Ama and Elliot wanted to get back together. They clearly wanted different relationships
Mutual pinning can only go so far. I need something more to sell me on their romance and why they even like each other. I believe they are great business partners, but they definitely need to see other people in the romance department.
I hope to read other books in the future by this author in hopes that I find one that lands for me. Unfortunately, the main couple and their boring relationship are what made me disinterested in this love story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Death of parent
Minor: Medical content and Alcohol
-Second Chance Romance -Sunshine Girl Boss Meets Grumpy Tsundere Boy -Dislike to Lovers -No Slow Burn. -Immediate Attraction -"Toxic Relationship" content warning for Ama's ex boss.amy_in_the_city's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
A second chance romance (?) between two people that don't belong together and should seek out therapy instead. It feels like it was written by one of those people who consider 500 Days of Summer a rom-com and wrote a fix-it fic for the main characters to end up together despite wanting different things. Ama clearly tells Elliot she doesn't do relationships. That should have been the end of it. She strings him along a bit, but he also lets himself be strung along because he doesn't believe her when she says "no relationships."
So much time was spent on the wedding planning plot and describing all the details and to-do lists that there was no time left for the romantic relationship or for character development in general. There were two chances to show them falling in love (past and present), but I never really felt they were in love. The past timeline mostly seemed about lust. They had sex a lot, but they didn't really have any conversations where they get to know each other in a way that makes their "love" believable. I couldn't tell you anything they like about each other besides he likes her ass and she likes his tattoos. They have maybe two conversations in the present timeline and neither show them falling for each other again.
Ama was pretty immature. I spent most of the book wondering why she never saw a therapist to deal with her feelings about her mother's many divorces and how that affects her views on relationships. You would think she would have sought out a therapist after her outlook on relationships ruined what she had with Elliot the first time but apparently not. Other than her relationship hang-ups and her career goals, she didn't have much of a personality.
Elliott was just kind of a jerk. Repeat after me: "grumpy" does not equal "being rude to everyone you're not currently banging." His first scene with Ama when she was trying to discuss a business opportunity and he was just negging her nonstop was not cute. It was also dumb as a business owner to be needlessly rude to a potential client. His inner thoughts were funny at times though, and I liked the general idea of him in theory.
A lot of reviews praise the steamy scenes but something about them felt off to me. There were some beautifully written lines in here about love but unfortunately, they felt out of character when the romance was so underdeveloped.
So much time was spent on the wedding planning plot and describing all the details and to-do lists that there was no time left for the romantic relationship or for character development in general. There were two chances to show them falling in love (past and present), but I never really felt they were in love. The past timeline mostly seemed about lust. They had sex a lot, but they didn't really have any conversations where they get to know each other in a way that makes their "love" believable. I couldn't tell you anything they like about each other besides he likes her ass and she likes his tattoos. They have maybe two conversations in the present timeline and neither show them falling for each other again.
Ama was pretty immature. I spent most of the book wondering why she never saw a therapist to deal with her feelings about her mother's many divorces and how that affects her views on relationships. You would think she would have sought out a therapist after her outlook on relationships ruined what she had with Elliot the first time but apparently not. Other than her relationship hang-ups and her career goals, she didn't have much of a personality.
Elliott was just kind of a jerk. Repeat after me: "grumpy" does not equal "being rude to everyone you're not currently banging." His first scene with Ama when she was trying to discuss a business opportunity and he was just negging her nonstop was not cute. It was also dumb as a business owner to be needlessly rude to a potential client. His inner thoughts were funny at times though, and I liked the general idea of him in theory.
A lot of reviews praise the steamy scenes but something about them felt off to me. There were some beautifully written lines in here about love but unfortunately, they felt out of character when the romance was so underdeveloped.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Cancer, Medical content, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol
Minor: Car accident and Classism
kfmcf's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed this book. Am I mad it's yet another Reylo, absolutely, but at least it was less obviously in the past timeline.
Speaking of the past timeline, that was the stronger aspects of the book to me. I loved the MMC's POV. He was so awkward and goony and it really showed their chemistry and what they both needed from each other. I missed that in the present timeline - I felt that we really didn't get any time with them together in the present and feel the draw of them coming back together. I did think having the timelines have one POV respective to each of them was a fun choice that was done well.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the cartoonishly evil villain. It was predictable and added a phony tension to the last act of the book.
This is so nitpicky - but I'm so picky about covers. Why do they both look so sickly. The color choices of purple and green, love, great, totally fine. But the characters are grey. why.
Overall, I still had a good time with this one and will keep an eye out for future Julie Soto's.
Speaking of the past timeline, that was the stronger aspects of the book to me. I loved the MMC's POV. He was so awkward and goony and it really showed their chemistry and what they both needed from each other. I missed that in the present timeline - I felt that we really didn't get any time with them together in the present and feel the draw of them coming back together. I did think having the timelines have one POV respective to each of them was a fun choice that was done well.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the cartoonishly evil villain. It was predictable and added a phony tension to the last act of the book.
This is so nitpicky - but I'm so picky about covers. Why do they both look so sickly. The color choices of purple and green, love, great, totally fine. But the characters are grey. why.
Overall, I still had a good time with this one and will keep an eye out for future Julie Soto's.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting and Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Medical content