Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - My Temptation

Almost DNFed more than once. Juliet and Henley’s relationship has so much toxicity that I wanted to scream. I kept expecting Juliet to find her backbone, but I was disappointed. But T L Swan’s spice is always top-tier, and this book was no different. And thank goodness for that because that’s what got me through the book. Listened on Audible. The narration was fantastic.

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jpeden314's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

I am not sure what to think about this book. Honestly, it annoyed me most of the time. Henley has some baggage and I get that. But I think it was too drawn out for a book. Like in real life it would take time to unlearn some stuff but the book didn’t really skip ahead and we just kept going through the same cycle. He was annoyed and I was a little pissed at Juliet for sticking around and giving the a-hole so many chances. It wasn’t just that he was emotionally immature and unavailable, but he was downright cruel to her. Also, I get that we are building other characters for more books in this series but it felt a little too much about other characters at times.

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allingoodtime's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful tense slow-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

3.0

There is a lot of potential in this story, but at times it was difficult to get through. Not only because of certain plot points, but because there are times the writing is corny. Some of the flirting that is, I guess, supposed to be witty banter comes across as juvenile and cringe. There is definite chemistry between Juliet and Henley. It’s what kept me reading this book. This is a new-to-me author so I was trying to figure out her rhythm and give her a chance.

As I said, great chemistry. I’m not a huge fan of enemies to lovers, I like my books a bit more rivals to lovers. The reason is that I have a hard time giving a character grace after they have been downright mean or cruel to the love interest. Truth be told, the relationship between these two gets toxic and I don’t know if I fully forgave Henley, no matter what his underlying issues were. On top of that, as Henley was running hot and cold, Juliet was what we would consider a stalker if it wasn’t clear she and Henley were supposed to work out and fall in love. She was so set on making Henley fall in love with her it crossed into the creepy territory a time or two. I understand that there are many readers out there who love all these things I’m saying, this is a perfect book for those readers.

When it comes to Kingston Lane and all of its residents, as well as Juliet’s best friend, I was all in. They have a sort of family on their cul de sac and it’s both wonderful and overbearing. However, when a particular woman moves back in with her mom and flirts with all the guys on the street, the other women are catty and terrible behind her back. I felt, for a book published in 2023, there is a lot of woman-on-woman bashing going on and it made me uncomfortable. Other than blatantly flirting and throwing herself at the MMC (whom she did not know was seeing the MFC because their relationship was being kept secret), I didn’t understand the venom the other women had in their hearts when talking about her behind her back constantly.

Oddly enough, I probably will try another story by this author. I’m curious about the rest of the residents and how their HEAs will come about so it may be the next book in this series. Or I may try the first book in her The Miles High Club series as I’ve seen a lot of good reviews for that one. Her storyline and character connections are spot on so I’d like to give her another try.

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rachminick's review against another edition

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

1.5

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thissarahgray's review against another edition

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2.5

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haylisreading's review against another edition

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challenging emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

3.75 stars because I had a lot of fun listening to this book, but it wasn’t quite a 4 star read for me.

I loved the spice in this book. I’ve heard a friend on Booktok recommend this author many times, and I’m glad I finally picked up one of her books. There were a lot of tropes I love. Including: fake dating, enemies to lovers, and friends with benefits (neighbors with benefits?).

The first chapter gave me whiplash with how fast we are introduced to the story and the characters. I listened to the audiobook and it definitely sounded a little disjointed at times because of the writing and the dialogue and the switch from the main character’s inner thoughts to her actual speech. It was hard to tell sometimes exactly who was speaking or if the main character was just thinking to herself.

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sairro10's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.75

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