Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - Fangirl Down

Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey

44 reviews

kingrosereads's review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I’m getting tired of these MMCs that toss around casual toxic masculinity. “Champagne is for women”. Like seriously? And this man is way too controlling. This grown woman can’t walk around the golf club without him glued to her side? Get so for real. And this man isn’t a grump, he needs straight up therapy not a woman to fix him. I mean yeah it was sad that his parents dipped out of his life but he’s a grown man that is ruining his own career. It’s not as if he’s going through a trauma or an injury, he just realized he’s not the special little golf boy in the world of professionals. Sure it was a dick move that his mentor dropped him when he wasn’t killing the game, but that’s not an excuse to become an alcoholic dick and blame everyone else for his problems. Again: this man needs therapy. He had all the means to build an actual support system and instead puts his improvement on Josephine. The man couldn’t act like a human being for ONE DAY without her. It’s so reminiscent of wives who can’t go out with her friends for an hour without her husband texting her about the location of household items or their children’s medication. Like you’re a grown man? You can’t just be professional for a day? How is this attractive? I know the entire system is against men being vulnerable and seeking help for mental health, but at some point you’ve gotta advocate for yourself and grow the fuck up. He also hung up on her best friend who’s in Antarctica and their communication is extremely limited. I don’t care that he “made up for it” (and please this book grossly overhypes the importance and influence a pro golfer has). And don’t get me started on this man’s dirty talk. I’m still recovering from the cringe. He’s so irritating and oblivious to just everything. “Breaking news: Man discovers how unfair media is to women” *eye roll* Wells is just not it.

And now Josephine. Whose entire personality is sex, Wells, and diabetes. She is truly annoying as a FMC. While I’m all for a woman making her own decisions regardless if they’re right or not, I cannot condone any of her choices. Apparently, she’s worried about her diabetes yet she forgoes insurance and she spends hundreds of dollars to go cheer on some has-been instead of having money for insulin? Or that she doesn’t have flood insurance in Florida because she can’t afford her medication? If Josephine isn’t thinking about Wells she’s obsessively monologuing her diabetic journey. Which is a shame cause I liked the idea of the representation, it just felt like every five minutes the author was going “oh btw I have diabetes” and “omg did you forget? I have diabetes” instead of it just being a natural incorporation. Additionally, Josephine’s extremely worried about being taken seriously as a golf caddy and proving her worth, yet she’s using sexual favors to encourage him to perform better. Are you kidding me? I’m all for sex work, but let’s call this what it is: a sexual transaction. The woman is getting a cut of his winnings and makes more money the better he plays. I don’t care that they spend a page trying to explain this away and convince the reader that he’s actually doing better per her advice when everything else suggests otherwise. Also, where’s the chemistry between these people? Josephine is liking Wells the more she gets to know him? Know him? How? Because the man doesn’t talk and he doesn’t like to answer questions. Their entire relationship is just sex and unbalanced power dynamics. Not to mention the couple’s “complication” that pulls them apart before the epic reunion at the end, was so ridiculous and childish. In no way was it that deep?

While tossing one salad isn’t a remote interest of mine, I’m not going to rate this book poorly based on that act. I’m sure someone read that scene and went “I feel seen” since ass play rarely makes these kinds of books. And truly, isn’t that what matters. Regardless, this book was ass without the salad tossing. If anything, it was the most interesting thing that happened in this book.

I keep trying with sport romances and even more with Tessa Bailey’s books but it’s just not working. While I have no issues with masculine MMCs, I cannot understand that she consistently has to write masculinity as being anti-feminine. You can be masculine without being like “lotion is for chicks” or “I’d rather die than let people know I like fruity drinks. I’m a man’s man and I drink beer and scotch.” or “I must protect this grown, capable, professional woman from her own shadow, no way could she ever survive without a strong man”. Give me a break.

I’m literally only giving stars for some of the spicy scenes and because of how cute and funny the scene with Lissa was.

Content Warnings

beckyremillard's review

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funny hopeful 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

4.75

I actually read the second book in the series before this one (not intentionally, just because I had the arc for book 2 and didn’t want to wait for my library hold on book 1). It was a little odd because I already knew some things.

Like I knew he would fire her and also it seemed like Wells and Burgess barely knew each other but they were best friends in book 2?

Overall though love this series. I’m not at all interested in golf but I still devoured this book because I just loved the characters and Tessa Bailey’s writing.

Content Warnings

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Josephine is Wells Whittaker’s biggest fan even though his golf game has not been what it used to be, she won’t desert him, until he decides to quit and push her away. After a hurricane comes through and destroys her family’s shop, he finds himself wanting to win her back. Since she won’t just take his money, he hires her as his caddy. So now all he has to do is win again so that she gets her share of the prize money and can live her dreams. Because after being such a jerk to her, he just wants to make her dreams come true.

Content Warnings

chelsearose's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

underscoresyd's review against another edition

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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

3.25

why are all of tessa bailey’s mmc’s always slightly misogynistic and so moody and insufferable

also,,,, i don’t get why her parents couldn’t just run the shop while she caddied for wells for a few more weeks ???

Content Warnings

annabananadel's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-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

4.25

“It’s not always about the next thing you do. Sometimes it’s about what you already did.”

I got my copy from Afterlight and that's really the only reason why I subscribed to it - to get a copy of this wonderful Tessa Bailey book. Usually, her books are a hit and miss but this time for sure, it was a definite hit. So I'm really glad I paid a lot of bucks for this wonderful exclusive edition.

This book was just a cute book - I think that's the best way to simply describe this book. I was having all sorts of emotions throughout my reading journey. Mostly though, I was just smiling pretty hard because I was swooning. I think the last time I was like this with a Tessa Bailey book was with Brendan from IHOS but this time, with Wells. To be honest, Wells is a biiiiiiig walking red flag but I'm blind when it comes to bad boys turned semi-good boys. That's Wells for me. For some reason, he got good after actually acknowledging Josephine, who's been a fan for years. There's that big plot hole but let me look another way. When Wells actually got together with Josephine, I was just a goner. All those sexual scenes they got together was so hot. Usually, it's cringey when guys talk during the sex scenes but when Wells was doing it, I was totally fine with it. I'm not sure why but it must have been because he was just so honest during those intimate moments and he's just thinking out loud. Either way, I was living for it. I love how it also focused on Josephine's condition. It showed how people are treated differently once people found out that they have a certain condition.

What really decreased the rating for me is the ending. It was an unnecessary fight, maybe the author just didn't want a third-act break up (which I usually hate so I was fine with this ending). The epilogue was cutie though. I don't usually care about the epilogue but this one was necessary. I just love Wells so much and I'm glad he turned a new leaf and got Josephine.

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jcrawford31's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

5.0

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kickitupanotch7's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

4.75

Spicy 🌶️🌶️

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clareasday's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Did ChatGPT write half this book?

"valley of slippery flesh"

"her intimate muscles moved in an erotic way"

Who writes like this??

Content Warnings

henriettaenam's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

4.75

Definitely a sweet story
And totally recommend . Thanks to Libro.fm and harper audio for me ALC
I loved the two MCs
I loved his growth together with her ; sweet and beautiful and inspiring

I was wondering about all those metaphors though 😹
How do people come up with these stuff ?

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