Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - By a Thread

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

By a Thread by Lucy Score

54 reviews

dwinn5's review against another edition

emotional funny tense medium-paced

I have to say, I was pretty disappointed by this book. It was hard for me to like Dominic right from the beginning (I can’t stand people who are rude to servers) and it basically never got better. I felt bad for him and I understood his trauma, but he never learned the lesson that every other character was literally screaming at him the entire book: you can’t use your trauma as an excuse to treat other people terribly.

He’s manipulative and controlling even when he’s supposed to be winning her back and he never listens to her. She spends the whole book telling him that she doesn’t want his money and it’s very clear that she wants emotional support, so what does he do? Throws money at every problem (despite her explicitly telling him not to), ices her out at every chance he gets, and makes decisions for her like some kind of patronizing a-hole.

I like Ally and I genuinely think she deserves better, I basically wasn’t rooting for them at all by the end.

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vanyavampi118's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.25

A wonderful read. I really enjoyed it. My first workplace romance. A perfect romantic comedy.

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quietmarki's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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hazelgirl21's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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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ariallbooked's review against another edition

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emotional funny slow-paced

4.0

3 🌶️

I fell in love with Lucy Score's writing when I read Thing We Never Got Over and this one did not disappoint. I was hooked on this story from chapter 1! I love a good slow-burn romance, but there were moments that made this book feel exceptionally slow, but once it got going, it was going strong!

I loved the constant back and forth, "I want you, but can't have you" between Ally & Dominic. It made the playful banter between them "chef's kiss*. The downside to this story for me was the 3rd act breakup. Dominic made me so mad for

accusing Ally to be using him, after begging her to let him help her out financially.

Other than that mishap, I really enjoyed this story!

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nams's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.75

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weelasswithabook's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful slow-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? Yes

4.5

CW sexual harrassment, SA, casual ableism, dementia, medical debt and money struggles

⭐ Rom-Com
⭐ Enemies to lovers
⭐ Office romance
⭐ Forced proximity

This. Was. So. Good!

I find it hard sometimes to commit to a romance over 350 pages, as it usually suggests to me that there's going to be a lot of unnecessary conflict. This, however, was delightful. Dealing with quite heavy topics such as dementia as and workplace sexual assault, Lucy Score managed to write a great love story which didn't overshadow or detract from the heavier parts of the storyline. It also still managed to be genuinely funny and steamy. So the length (500+ pages) of the novel was more than justifiable.

There's a lot of push and pull in here, combined with both characters being so strong willed and having such high standards for themselves that they can't show vulnerability to one another in an equal balance.

The enemies to lovers aspect of this was genuinely funny. It's so petty and childish (spelling out insults in foodstuffs, subtly giving each other the finger in the middle of important meetings, stuff like that), but I just thrived in it.

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marybsimp's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

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4.25

Content Warnings: Sexual scenes, parent with dementia, parental abandonment, toxic relationships [both familial and romantic], sexism, and pregnancy.
Mention of: workplace sexual harassment, sexual assault [of minor and adults], abuse of power, and infidelity.

Ally is juggling a lot to ensure her father, who has dementia, gets the best quality care he can. Working a handful of different jobs and barely making ends meet has made the last year extremely stressful. When an entitled customer refuses to put his phone away, which is a restaurant policy, she’s ready to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Forced to take his father’s position, as creative director at his mother’s magazine, Dominic is determined to show he’s a hard worker and not anything like his sleazy dad. Feeling like he doesn’t deserve the job he was given he’s constantly second-guessing himself and wonders if he’ll ever get the swing of things. It’s been a year of non-stop stress and repression of anger so when a server calls him out on his behavior he decides to give her, and her manager, a piece of his mind.

Dominic hates that all the associates always seem nervous or afraid of him but that doesn’t mean he was excited to find out his mother hired Ally. As soon as he sees her he tries to fire her but sadly her employment is not up to him. What’s worse than working with someone who doesn’t seem to respect you? Finding that same person increasingly attractive.

I adored the banter between these two and the steady slow burn as they fought their growing attraction to each other. As someone who’s read many third-act conflicts/breakups, I wasn’t prepared for how much this one would hurt. The problem that arises, and words that are said, is one that I felt wasn’t given adequate time for forgiveness to make sense…at least for me.

The opposites attract, workplace romance, and enemies to lovers vibes really had me going and I was smiling and laughing through most of the book. Overall I really enjoyed the book but I would have appreciated a little more time spend on the final conflict. It felt, to me, like it was resolved rather quickly though the book technically tells us it’s been a decent span of time.

***Bit of a Spoiler about the ending below, STOP READING if you don’t want the spoiler***

I really enjoyed the ending except that out of nowhere Ally tells Dominic she’s pregnant. It didn’t feel necessary. The way the ending was written, I feel, it would have been better to just do everything the same but not have that pregnancy announcement. Then in the bonus epilogue [that I think you get for signing up for a newsletter] have a bit about how after the book ended they found out they were going to have a baby etc.

Due to them being 39 and 44 when the book started and them not mentioning wanting kids, the entire book, I wrongfully assumed this would be a romance without pregnancy so those few final pages really threw me off. I have a lot of friends who don’t want kids or who’ve struggled with infertility who love reading romance books, that don’t include pregnancy in them, so I was really excited to recommend this book…until that ending. 😅

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evie2947's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

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