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msrae89's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Self harm
Moderate: Racism, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Alcohol
crissi's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.5
This is not your typical queer romance novel - it is the journey of a 20 something over achiever finding her place in the world, and finding herself. With all the pretty and the ugly, the pain, and the fun, and the love. While portraying a love story s milar to the 2000s romcoms, it stays realistic in how the characters evolve and don't. I wasn't so sure about the book in the first half, because I found a lot of the relationships codependent and one would say toxic, but it all turned around in the second half. I adored the therapy and mental health representation.
This book is so important for every 20 something who grew up to be an overachiever and struggles to navigate their way in the aftermaths of academic pleasure and pressure.
This book is so important for every 20 something who grew up to be an overachiever and struggles to navigate their way in the aftermaths of academic pleasure and pressure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Self harm, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism
clemrain's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
This review is a therapeutic rant. Not worth the read. But was worth the write after struggling through the pages of Honey Girl.
The cover art is gorgeous and that alone can give the book one star, but the rating goes down a star because this gorgeous cover lead me to a terrible novel.
I really wasn’t expecting to give this a 0 star rating. I have a point system that I calculate my star ratings on, and then change the number based on gut feeling. Not super mathematical, but my points added to 0 and so did my gut.
I want to say I’m disappointed because this novel wasn’t what I wanted it to be. But I didn’t have any expectations going in. So, it truly just wasn’t a book for me.
There are too many characters. None of them are fleshed out. I don’t think the author thought about the characters past what type of POC, LGBTQ+ or mental illness rep they were going to be. Most characters feel redundant, and between all of them there is no plot. A character based novel is good too, but this book wasn’t that either. It ran on a singular theme (loneliness) and read like a first draft.
The main character, Grace Porter, is truly so annoying. The entire time she complains about being a WOC and that’s the only reason she’s supposedly not succeeding. While simultaneously, having a picture perfect beginning to a romance, parents that support her financially, and friends that love her so much. She’s also explicitly stated as attractive. She’s on the cover and she’s gorgeous. A good solid foundation in succeeding. It almost comes across like internalized racism that she can only name her being half black as the reason to why she didn’t get a job offer.
Maybe the point flew over my head.
As a WOC myself, I understand very well how looking a certain way can cost opportunities. But majority of those losses come in bigger systematic issues which Grace doesn’t face in this novel—let’s say, in a greater extent. There are micro aggressions detailed in the novel and they did a good job illustrating what it is like being a WOC in STEM. However, it’s hard to relate to a supposed systemically oppressed main character that can easily afford trips to New York and Orange groves when they want to runaway from their very small problems like not succeeding in the very first job interview they went to.
She gets called out on her BS by her brother but the brother retracts the statement, says sorry a million times and Grace doesn’t learn anything from it. Where’s the character development?
Grace says she doesn’t even care for astronomy and it was a decision made to have individualism from her overbearing father but in the end she resolves to stay in the field. How does that make sense? I felt that her taking over the tea shop and jumping into a passion for herself while having her waitress wife run it with her would have been a great resolution to not only the big question of career, but also her brother’s only presented hardship plus the romance. The ending we got instead was “guess I’ll teach, so I can be with this hot stranger and leave behind my friends and family who have supported me my entire life for a woman who’s only ever gotten aggressive with me when I asked her why she hunts monster for fun.” Like girl where are your priorities?
I’d talk about the other characters, but honestly they’re all annoying too and I can’t actually distinct them from one another.
The writing style is so millennial. There’s no other way to describe it. Even that though, isn’t a death sentence to its writing. What really kills it for me is the the utter loss of literary technique. There’s repetition, but it isn’t used effectively enough to evoke emotion. There are metaphors, but truly too many and they lose their significance and don’t cause a pang. Etc. every literary devices I picked up on just wasn’t effectively used. The dialogue is unnatural. Does this author have siblings? Because siblings do not converse like that. In short, the writing style wasn’t for me.
The pacing was slow. Unbearably slow. The plot jumped in directions that made no sense. One scene didn’t naturally bridge to the next. Truly, I thought I was missing pages at points. The entire time I was reading this I wanted the book to be over. I don’t DNF books, which is the only reason I finished it. But I was close to making this my first DNF.
The themes of loneliness are some of my favourites to read. However, this book was so corny. The radio show starting by asking if someone is out there. A bit on the nose. Comparing loneliness to shunned creatures is a beautiful concept. But it’s terribly executed in the book and hardly a new concept. Frankenstein is bicentennial.
I’ve seen this book described as a coming of age. I think the reason I’m so harsh with this book is because it’s about a 29 year old. Girl you’re not having a coming of age. You have a whole ass PhD.
Loneliness in your 20s is a concept not much written about. Or at least not much I’ve read on in nonfiction. I wish the author had focused on the age group she was writing and wrote her story true to that. This read like YA about 12 year olds.
Ending had literally nothing to do with the novel and didn’t conclude the story at all.
I really want to add a positive in here. I really really do. But the pretty cover compliment is all I have.
I hope the author writes their next novel with good research, a plot chart, and many revisions. Maybe even get a new editor.
The cover art is gorgeous and that alone can give the book one star, but the rating goes down a star because this gorgeous cover lead me to a terrible novel.
I really wasn’t expecting to give this a 0 star rating. I have a point system that I calculate my star ratings on, and then change the number based on gut feeling. Not super mathematical, but my points added to 0 and so did my gut.
I want to say I’m disappointed because this novel wasn’t what I wanted it to be. But I didn’t have any expectations going in. So, it truly just wasn’t a book for me.
There are too many characters. None of them are fleshed out. I don’t think the author thought about the characters past what type of POC, LGBTQ+ or mental illness rep they were going to be. Most characters feel redundant, and between all of them there is no plot. A character based novel is good too, but this book wasn’t that either. It ran on a singular theme (loneliness) and read like a first draft.
The main character, Grace Porter, is truly so annoying. The entire time she complains about being a WOC and that’s the only reason she’s supposedly not succeeding. While simultaneously, having a picture perfect beginning to a romance, parents that support her financially, and friends that love her so much. She’s also explicitly stated as attractive. She’s on the cover and she’s gorgeous. A good solid foundation in succeeding. It almost comes across like internalized racism that she can only name her being half black as the reason to why she didn’t get a job offer.
Maybe the point flew over my head.
As a WOC myself, I understand very well how looking a certain way can cost opportunities. But majority of those losses come in bigger systematic issues which Grace doesn’t face in this novel—let’s say, in a greater extent. There are micro aggressions detailed in the novel and they did a good job illustrating what it is like being a WOC in STEM. However, it’s hard to relate to a supposed systemically oppressed main character that can easily afford trips to New York and Orange groves when they want to runaway from their very small problems like not succeeding in the very first job interview they went to.
She gets called out on her BS by her brother but the brother retracts the statement, says sorry a million times and Grace doesn’t learn anything from it. Where’s the character development?
I’d talk about the other characters, but honestly they’re all annoying too and I can’t actually distinct them from one another.
The writing style is so millennial. There’s no other way to describe it. Even that though, isn’t a death sentence to its writing. What really kills it for me is the the utter loss of literary technique. There’s repetition, but it isn’t used effectively enough to evoke emotion. There are metaphors, but truly too many and they lose their significance and don’t cause a pang. Etc. every literary devices I picked up on just wasn’t effectively used. The dialogue is unnatural. Does this author have siblings? Because siblings do not converse like that. In short, the writing style wasn’t for me.
The pacing was slow. Unbearably slow. The plot jumped in directions that made no sense. One scene didn’t naturally bridge to the next. Truly, I thought I was missing pages at points. The entire time I was reading this I wanted the book to be over. I don’t DNF books, which is the only reason I finished it. But I was close to making this my first DNF.
The themes of loneliness are some of my favourites to read. However, this book was so corny. The radio show starting by asking if someone is out there. A bit on the nose. Comparing loneliness to shunned creatures is a beautiful concept. But it’s terribly executed in the book and hardly a new concept. Frankenstein is bicentennial.
I’ve seen this book described as a coming of age. I think the reason I’m so harsh with this book is because it’s about a 29 year old. Girl you’re not having a coming of age. You have a whole ass PhD.
Loneliness in your 20s is a concept not much written about. Or at least not much I’ve read on in nonfiction. I wish the author had focused on the age group she was writing and wrote her story true to that. This read like YA about 12 year olds.
Ending had literally nothing to do with the novel and didn’t conclude the story at all.
I really want to add a positive in here. I really really do. But the pretty cover compliment is all I have.
I hope the author writes their next novel with good research, a plot chart, and many revisions. Maybe even get a new editor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: War, Lesbophobia, and Grief
olliebranch1's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I really wanted to like this book and it started off promising. But even as a self proclaimed hopeless romantic the language in this book was way too flowery for me. There’s just nobody in the world who speaks this way which kind of took me out of trying to relate to this character.
Grace, our main character’s best friends were meant to be seen as the strong, empowering and messy individuals, but in some ways they just seemed toxic. One friend in particular seemed quite ab*sive to the point where it was hard to see her good. Also the whole I love you so much it hurts thing is exactly what I don’t want younger readers to be reading. Codependency is not a good thing kids.
Grace, our main character’s best friends were meant to be seen as the strong, empowering and messy individuals, but in some ways they just seemed toxic. One friend in particular seemed quite ab*sive to the point where it was hard to see her good. Also the whole I love you so much it hurts thing is exactly what I don’t want younger readers to be reading. Codependency is not a good thing kids.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Toxic friendship
garibae's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This book was a huge disappointment. I expected a cheesy romance with an accidental wedding trope and instead got a mess of a book that made me angrier with every turning page.
I disliked every single character in this book. The author diversity-dropped at every possible turn, piling up oppression after oppression and turning what could have been a fun trope-y book into an exhausting read.
Every friendship in the book is toxic, Grace's relationship with her parents is abusive, and the "romantic" storyline is painful to follow between two caricatures of a character. The mentions of mental health were beyond problematic (calling people "feral" and "things" when they are in the hospital for mental health issues) and the fetishisation of minority groups was nauseating.
Perhaps what irked me most, however, was the word "monster" (a word triggering for many people in the lgbtq+ community) and how the author attempted to romanticize it.
I disliked every single character in this book. The author diversity-dropped at every possible turn, piling up oppression after oppression and turning what could have been a fun trope-y book into an exhausting read.
Every friendship in the book is toxic, Grace's relationship with her parents is abusive, and the "romantic" storyline is painful to follow between two caricatures of a character. The mentions of mental health were beyond problematic (calling people "feral" and "things" when they are in the hospital for mental health issues) and the fetishisation of minority groups was nauseating.
Perhaps what irked me most, however, was the word "monster" (a word triggering for many people in the lgbtq+ community) and how the author attempted to romanticize it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
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