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Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'
Delilah Green não está nem aí by Ashley Herring Blake
193 reviews
ruchaa's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
this was genuinely so cute i’m obsessed!! the characters are adorable and it makes me want to pack up my life and move to a cute town in the middle of buttfuck oregon
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship
mrsmishler's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship
msradiosilence's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Cursing, and Death of parent
lexnicole's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Sexual content
hello_lovely13's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Infidelity
bzliz's review against another edition
funny
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? Yes
4.0
Edit: I came back to bump this rating a smidge higher after doing so for Astrid’s book also. I was too harsh the first time around and this deserves 4 stars because I did really like it.
Original review:
Delilah and Claire are at opposite ends of their lives- Delilah is a photographer trying to find success in New York after a pretty lonely, loveless childhood following her father’s death. Claire had a child young and she never got to experience her wild 20s, which is part of why she finds the courage to go hit on Delilah in the bar, completely unaware that the subject of her flirtation is her best friend’s sister.
This book has a bunch of great romance tropes, like the classic only one bed and the characters seem plucked right out of a TV movie script. The villains are very villainy and nobody seems inclined to stop their bad behavior. Isabel is super controlling of Astrid and downright neglectful of Delilah and Spencer spends every scene he’s in ordering Astrid around like she’s his servant. It’s pretty Cinderella-y, but if the two sisters were both Cinderella at the same time.
Now for the negative: The characters in this spend a LOT of time drinking, it’s practically a personality trait. It feels like an excuse to have Claire and Delilah act on their attraction to each other when they’re both too afraid of getting too attached otherwise. And the villains are- as I mentioned- very villainy. Isabel I can maybe squint at and understand her motivations but I can’t figure out why Spencer acts the way he does. He’s just there to be generally terrible and to give Delilah a reason to feel bad for Astrid.
My favorite character development came near the end asAstrid and Delilah realize they’ve both hurt each other while blaming the other the whole time. I loved seeing their baby steps to fixing their shattered relationship. I would love to see a book more about repairing that relationship.
Original review:
Delilah and Claire are at opposite ends of their lives- Delilah is a photographer trying to find success in New York after a pretty lonely, loveless childhood following her father’s death. Claire had a child young and she never got to experience her wild 20s, which is part of why she finds the courage to go hit on Delilah in the bar, completely unaware that the subject of her flirtation is her best friend’s sister.
This book has a bunch of great romance tropes, like the classic only one bed and the characters seem plucked right out of a TV movie script. The villains are very villainy and nobody seems inclined to stop their bad behavior. Isabel is super controlling of Astrid and downright neglectful of Delilah and Spencer spends every scene he’s in ordering Astrid around like she’s his servant. It’s pretty Cinderella-y, but if the two sisters were both Cinderella at the same time.
Now for the negative: The characters in this spend a LOT of time drinking, it’s practically a personality trait. It feels like an excuse to have Claire and Delilah act on their attraction to each other when they’re both too afraid of getting too attached otherwise. And the villains are- as I mentioned- very villainy. Isabel I can maybe squint at and understand her motivations but I can’t figure out why Spencer acts the way he does. He’s just there to be generally terrible and to give Delilah a reason to feel bad for Astrid.
My favorite character development came near the end as
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Grief
booksngrannies's review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexism, Death of parent, and Grief
trips's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was...ok.
Now, to note: I'm exploring romance in this year of 2023 but I am finding I'm super picky so what I may not like may be your cup of tea and by all means drink it cause I'm probably not going for seconds.
Delilah Green Doesn't Care, and the author really wants you to know, as various characters say it constantly throughout the book. She returns home to photograph her estranged step sisters wedding and ends up falling for her childhood crush, Claire, again along the way (and Claire is falling too oooo).
I was hoping for character growth and sweet moments between the love interests but Delilah spends so much time wallowing its hard to root for her. But the way the book is structured, it didn't feel like there was enough time spent to allow for Delilah to grow from her past trauma/pains/bullies as too much of the book was focused on her step sister and her shitty fiance. I get that the next book is in Astrid's POV but maybe save it for there? idk.
I liked Claire a lot, and I enjoyed her side of the story a lot more than Astrid's getting thrown in there (because she was the love interest and it made sense). Unfortunately the romance blossoming didn't feel much like romance to me, there were so many other things going on and instead of getting to know each other, the ladies were just boning a lot. Which is fine, in a longer book I would imagine they would have had their moments to connect more...
I'm going to stop because I'm just going to ramble for forever. I wish this was a 5 star book as I'm all for sapphic romance, but alas.
Now, to note: I'm exploring romance in this year of 2023 but I am finding I'm super picky so what I may not like may be your cup of tea and by all means drink it cause I'm probably not going for seconds.
Delilah Green Doesn't Care, and the author really wants you to know, as various characters say it constantly throughout the book. She returns home to photograph her estranged step sisters wedding and ends up falling for her childhood crush, Claire, again along the way (and Claire is falling too oooo).
I was hoping for character growth and sweet moments between the love interests but Delilah spends so much time wallowing its hard to root for her. But the way the book is structured, it didn't feel like there was enough time spent to allow for Delilah to grow from her past trauma/pains/bullies as too much of the book was focused on her step sister and her shitty fiance. I get that the next book is in Astrid's POV but maybe save it for there? idk.
I liked Claire a lot, and I enjoyed her side of the story a lot more than Astrid's getting thrown in there (because she was the love interest and it made sense). Unfortunately the romance blossoming didn't feel much like romance to me, there were so many other things going on and instead of getting to know each other, the ladies were just boning a lot. Which is fine, in a longer book I would imagine they would have had their moments to connect more...
I'm going to stop because I'm just going to ramble for forever. I wish this was a 5 star book as I'm all for sapphic romance, but alas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Bullying and Death of parent
infjkiki's review against another edition
emotional
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, and Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Infidelity
brynn_books's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a cute, funny, lighthearted sapphic read. It was the perfect read to get me out of my reading slump (especially during pride month). Instantly, I loved the dynamic between Claire and Delilah. I loved seeing their relationship grow throughout the story.
I do wish some of the other characters were more fleshed out. By the end of the story, I could really get a feel for who Delilah is (which makes sense since this is mostly her story), but I wanted to know more about the other characters. Like, I wanted to know more about what Claire likes to do (other than running the bookstore and taking care of Ruby). But, despite not knowing much about them, I do like how all of the characters had flaws and made mistakes and were allowed to be messy.
I especially loved all of Delilah’s photography throughout the novel and how her pictures represent powerful queer women. It shows how queer women can just exist. They’re allowed to be happy, angry, sad, excited, or whatever. This is just one of the many themes I loved that were woven throughout the story.
Overall, this is a very powerful, queer novel. I would highly recommend picking this up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity