Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - La Chica del Tiempo

Full disclosure, this rating may be skewed by a series of coincidences that occurred the weekend I read it. Like four different times I pointed to the book and said [vine voice] I did that!

But I loved it! The characters felt really well-rounded and complex, and it seemed like they really worked as a pair. I absolutely adore their communication style, how miscommunication was never their issue. They both tried to make comfortable space for the other, both to speak or feel free not to, even before they're together.

I'm still on the fence about the single perspective. It likely helped to really dig into Ari's mental illness rather than leave it more superficial, but I ended up completely in love with Russell, rather than with both of them. Seeing Ari directly through Russell's perspective would've maybe balanced the narrative for me, but I can see how it could've thrown the plot way off track.

It did move quite a bit faster than I expected – I thought Ari's roadblocks would be a little bigger (the recent engagement, her mother's illness), but I still appreciated that she was dealing with them internally as formative pieces of her past, even if they didn't create much external conflict. It is a bit heavy-handed with the romance tropes (as in, what's not clear to Air is still pretty obvious to the reader), but I liked it because it felt like getting to the "good parts" faster.

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martachbc's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

Solomon has carved herself a nice little niche of Seattle-based, media-centric workplace romances. The Ex Talk focused on radio, and with Weather Girl, we move into the exciting world of local news.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕝𝕠𝕥:: Ari Abrams is a weather girl who tries to prevent anything from raining on her parade. Her always-cheerful attitude resulted in her being dumped for not being real enough, but it helps her survive her toxic workplace, where her two bosses, who happened to be exes, are constantly at each other’s throats. She teams up with sportscaster Russell to reunite the wayward lovers in the hopes of making their professional lives better. But when she starts spending more time with Russell, she starts to wonder if romance might be in the cards for her too.

𝕄𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤: Don’t hate me for saying this, but Weather Girl just fell a little flat for me! I think I struggled to buy the extremely unprofessional Parent Trap-ping of the bosses - normally I can overlook goofy plotlines in a romance, but it didn’t click for me.

Overall everything just seemed a little nice but a little lackluster. It’s weird because that’s exactly what I did like about two other recent reads, The Suite Spot and Lease on Love. But I never felt drawn to pick up this book - I was mostly reading it just to get through it.

I really do appreciate that Solomon brought into the mix a few elements we don’t often see in romance: depression (because it’s not sexy but it’s real!) and a male lead who wasn’t carved out of marble and who has his own body issues. Normalize it all! I think Solomon does a great job of normalizing these diverse elements without making it *the* story.

I would describe this as a good spring romance. It’s not necessarily a beach read, it’s not the most fun thing in the world, but it works well for a rainy day. Fittingly, I guess!

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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

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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

4.0

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yanitzawrites's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No

4.5

UGH MY HEART!!

I have found my one true love aka book boyfriend aka Russell!

Tears were shed multiple times and Rachel truly set the standard for mental health representation in contemporary romance.

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thefatpaperback's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

A cute read! In some places it felt like the cheesy-factor was dialed up more than other rom-coms, but I think it works given the amount of focus that is placed on depression in the book. That balance works. My favorite thing about this read was that our hero, Russell, is a fat man. An explicitly stated fat man, and Ari is aaaallllllllll about his body. It’s handled really well, and I love reading about fat men as romance heroes. Russ is 100% book boyfriend material

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amandalorianxo's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

Initially, I was personally hesitant to read this because I wasn't one hundred percent invested in Ex Talk written by the same author. But I took a chance and was happy to feel that Solomon doesn't fall in the sophomore slump as much as I was afraid to be in. I found myself absorbing the romance in this novel as background noise and appreciated more Ari Abrams and Russ as individuals in addition to the topics that are discussed head one such as depression, therapy and the reluctance to go, battling with the mental health woes that not everyone will understand in addition to the medication conversation as well as the realness of raising a kid as an adult in their 20's. I warmed up to this gradually and I think this is a book that can be easily read within a day or three. Long story short, I was more invested in everything else that tied this book together as opposed to the romance between Ari and Russ. Nothing against them on a personal level, I just didn't feel a spark with them as I do with other couples in a romantic comedy themed novel.

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