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mj_86's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Car accident
spellbindingtomes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The second in the Brown Sisters standalone trilogy focuses on Dani Brown, whose number one priority is her career. Love and romance? That's not even on her list of things to achieve in life.
It took me awhile to like Dani's character, but I really loved her focus and intelligence. She's ambitious when it comes to her career but cynical when it comes to love. I really felt Sorcha's frustration with her. Dani definitely made me want to yell out the title of this book to her a couple of times.
Zaf stole my heart from the moment we find out he, a former pro rugby player, reads romance novels ๐ค He has a grumpy exterior but deep down is gentle, sweet, and attentive, especially when it comes to Dani. His grief was so raw and heartbreaking and I thought the way Talia handled his fears and anxieties was well done.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต.
Just like in Get a Life, Talia knows how to create spicy romantic tension. The build up was just so good ๐ฅ๐ฅ I appreciated that she also emphasized the importance of validating all types of feelings, that being vulnerable is not at all a weakness, and that a person shouldn't change who they are in order to make a relationship work.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ.
Highly recommend this if you like:
๐ฎfake dating
๐friends to lovers
๐ฎanxiety rep
๐banter and chemistry
๐ฎhe falls first
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Car accident, and Death
Minor: Body shaming
justanotherreaderofwords's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Death of parent and Car accident
kirkspockreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Car accident, Grief, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Toxic relationship
auteaandtales's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Firstly, one of my favourite things in romance books is when each love interest is developed as a full individual. They feel fully formed, as people, rather than something that only exists as one half of a relationship. This is probably helped by this people dual-POV (which I donโt normally like, but I did like in this). Zaf has his own family dynamics and it felt so whole, it had those things I always imagine close families do where they have inside jokes and their own banter. His relationship with his niece, Fatima, in particular was incredibly wholesome. Zafโs best friend was involved in the story, too, which I loved. Dani was the same, of course, as this series focuses on each one of the Brown sisters so their dynamic is centric to the story. It also involved Daniโs best friend, and an ex-girlfriend. There was a lot of their characters already fleshed out, which for me always adds to the romance and makes it that much better.
Dani is so confident, but still had underlying insecurities, and Zaf is a hopeless romantic that struggles with anxiety. It was layered, and I love the way that anxiety was handled as someone who has anxiety themselves. I felt like they balanced each other out so well, they complimented each other and fit very well together. The banter and the chemistry between them was all the more improved because of it.
There was also so much love, kindness and supportive friendship/family in the background, and within the relationship itself. It felt like reading a warm hug.
The effortless diversity was a plus, as well, and I can never go wrong with fake dating.
A++, another masterpiece on romance that I know will stay with me for a while.
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Toxic relationship, Grief, Death, and Car accident
mighty_lizard_queen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Death of parent, Islamophobia, and Stalking
Minor: Car accident, Toxic relationship, and Grief
carina_dreamer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
๐ This time we get to follow the middle sister, Danika Brown, she is the wildest of the three. She's a college professor, a bisexual plus-size black woman, sassy and a pro in the "friends with benefits".
If in the 1st, Chloe follows a list of out-the-box things she should do, here Dani will ask the help of a goddess to get a new partner in bed. That was a funny and interesting contrast to the older sister.
The goddess led her directly to the arms of the college's grumpy security guard, Zafir, and the incident of the heroic princess carry would get them both in the spotlight.
๐ In book 1, I wanted more backstory regarding Red and his family, plus, I disliked the rushed 3rd act break-up and its resolution. Nonetheless, I gave it 5โญ.
In book 2, the plot focused more on Zafir and his family than on the Brown sisters (I was a bit sad, but not displeased). The hard topic of anxiety and grief was his, so it needed more focus. Thank goodness, the author also improved in terms of the 3rd act's struggles. It was also quick (Bestie didn't like that again when we had our book club discussion), but I felt like it accomplished the goal of apologising in a way that would swoon the hopeless romantic in question.
๐ I suffer from anxiety and I think Talia showcased it delicately and consciously. There were examples from both characters of overthinking, panic attacks, trauma responses, imposter syndrome, hesitation out of fear, etc. And also coping mechanisms and support. The stages of grief and battle to overcome the loss and mental damage were done very well.
๐ It was a fake dating, they needed to flaunt their relationship for social media frenzy and gossip, but in terms of actual romance, it was more of a slow burn. As usual, the author describes the tension between them very ๐ฅต which I love.
๐ Would've liked some footnotes translating the language Zaf and his family spoke together. That absence didn't let me understand the little representation it showed of their origins and religion.
Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Death of parent, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Gaslighting and Car accident
pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
I absolutely loved the depictions of grief, how it's a never ending process, and anxiety, where your
know something, but your brain constantly catastrophizes it to an inescapable point anyway.
Graphic: Mental illness and Grief
Moderate: Death, Stalking, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity and Vomit
mabellene's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Grief
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming
theemangomami's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Death, Car accident, and Death of parent