Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Gravity

”It's like I can't escape him. Et non, I do not want to. He can trap me in his gravity pour toujours.”
- Gravity

Tropes: Sports Romance (Hockey), Workplace Romance, Teammates, Sexual Awakening, Hurt/Comfort, Not Third Act Breakup
Representation: LGBTQ+ (Gay
Spice Scale: 🌶🌶🌶
CW: Graphic Injury Detail, Hospitalization, Medical Content, Blood

When I picked up Gravity, I expected it to be a lot like most other sports romances I’ve read: fun, flirty, and a little bit sexy. I did not expect a heart-wrenchingly soft love story that left me with an emotional hangover.
Tal Bauer’s writing was poetic—which is not something I usually like because it’s too hard for my neurodivergent brain to read between the lines and parse out what’s actually happening. But somehow, Bauer strikes the perfect balance between beautiful sweeping prose and an easy-to-follow plot.
I loved the juxtaposition of insta-love and slow-burn between Bryce and Hunter. Their friendship and chemistry developed so easily and quickly, yet the build to their romantic relationship was filled with heart-aching pining. It worked beautifully.
There’s no third-act breakup, which I also loved. However, there is still a major conflict in the third act that I did not see coming and kept me on edge until the very last page. I don’t want to give too much away other than to say to check out my content warnings above, but I will say that it was absolutely heartbreaking in the best way. The hurt/comfort between Bryce, Hunter, and the entire team stitched my heart back together.
This is probably one of the most unique books I’ve read in a long time, and I absolutely loved it.
Also, just a quick note: This book has a lot of on-page French. However, if you’re reading on Kindle, the in-app/device translation feature works great, and if you’re reading in print, Bauer includes translation footnotes at the end of each chapter.

Content Warnings

melly_book_review's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring sad tense medium-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

Content Warnings

amris's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

Content Warnings

piperclover's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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? No

3.0

I have very mixed and tangled feelings about this.

I appreciate the depth of emotion that Bryce and Hunter have for each other and I think that this author did a really good job of showing those in such a short time span, both because the edition at least was pretty short and because the plot itself doesnt go through a very big time span.

I appreciate that the twist at the end was a different take than I'm used to seeing. It's still the second most common "twist" so it's not reinventing the wheel or anything but I just liked that it was done this way with

the tracheostomy and feeding tube due to a puck to the neck rather than a broken leg or severe concussion

. I like how the team rallies behind him after this and how they're so close. They are relationship dynamics are so sweet and I just really enjoyed that found family trope and how deeply the entire team feels about each other.

That being said I don't know if I am the exact demographic that this book is met for. I love my hockey romances but this one is very technical. I've seen that people say that this author is for people who are genuinely hockey fans and/or players and I think that definitely makes sense because I skipped nearly entire chapters that were just technical hockey play and I was so bored by it. Because of that, the pacing was kind of weird to me and there was about 30 pages in the middle of the book where I was genuinely considering dnf'ing because nothing interesting was happening, even the domestic fluff and showing of the relationship who wasn't enough to keep me engaged.

I also find that the way the author describes their relationship and has them talking to each other comes across unpleasantly for me. Some of the things that Bryce and Hunter say to each other are so dramatic and absolute that they came off as immature to me instead of deep or meaningful.

Content Warnings

ashlikes's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

bibliophilebree's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

Content Warnings

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