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ellieafterall's review against another edition
1.0
I've NEVER wanted to punch a book character more Josh Chester. FUCK THIS GUY.
I honestly wish this book was written in one POV, specifically only Vanessa's just so I didn't have to put up with the horribly misogynistic comments of Josh's POV. At one point, I started skimming his parts because he completely ruined the book for me. I'll just put some quotes here and let them explain themselves (obviously spoilers)-
Vanessa, after having an argument with her parents and feeling sort of torn about her life, confesses her vulnerable state of mind:
"I know what you mean. I need to get out of my parents' house, but it's so hard to make myself. I'm not sure I'm ready."
He laughs. "Christ, K-drama, you still live with your parents? What are you, twelve? Man, you need a new place even worse than I do."
When he walks away, he's still laughing, his shoulders shaking. Asshole. (99)
and the three chapters later, he's like
It's driving me crazy, not knowing what's eating at her, which is dumb; who cares? Anyway, she'll probably bitch and moan about it in the car, whatever it is. Nothing that's my problem. (132)
God, he's just the opposite of a decent human being. Like, not only does he manage to make her feel like absolute shit about revealing her feelings, he also manages to be racist and an asshole.
Let's just talk about why I hated reading from his POV:
"Zoe invited me," she says sweetly, as if I like Zoe any better. She's not even as hot.
Especially since his co-star, Zoe Knight, is semi-hot, and I haven't tapped her yet.
"I will give you a billion dollars to get them the fuck out of here."
She [Vanessa] raises an eyebrow. "What makes you think I'd be able to do that."
"I have no idea. But Ally would be able to, and you're the closest thing I've got since my asshole bestfriend checked on me. Come on. I'm sure some men find you vaguely attractive, in a boy-chested kind of way. Go charm them." Sparks shoot from her eyes. Whoops. "I mean..."
"Oh, shut up," she mutters.
...and Natasha Rivers, who once gave me surprisingly good head in an alley about a mile from here.
My eyes shift from Mini-Jade's tits back over K-drama legs before returning to Royce.
every female character he describes in relation to how hot they are, or how much he would want to bang them. and i'm sure there are guys like this, i just don't want to read their perspective on life. i would literally do anything else but that. it makes me want to throw up. he makes me want to.
like, he's just an absolute dick to Vanessa and she's always like "ugh, whatever" but I'd literally punch him. or never acknowledge his existence again. i don't know why she continues to be around when he acts like this around her??
I'm contemplating calling her again, and of course that's exactly when I hear, "You still PMS-ing, K-drama?"
On top of everything, the writing style isn't great, and it's almost choppy. There's a part where he suddenly likes Vanessa, and then he sees her kiss Bri and then it suddenly disappears again. And the thing is that he's always constantly putting her down in all the chapters leading up to this that it's so weird to think that he has a thing for her. And it also pushes that narrative that "boys tease/bully girls because they secretly like them" when he's just a dick. God. I'm so tired of him.
The one star is for Vanessa and Bri, because I did love them. But I will never read this book again.
I honestly wish this book was written in one POV, specifically only Vanessa's just so I didn't have to put up with the horribly misogynistic comments of Josh's POV. At one point, I started skimming his parts because he completely ruined the book for me. I'll just put some quotes here and let them explain themselves (obviously spoilers)-
Vanessa, after having an argument with her parents and feeling sort of torn about her life, confesses her vulnerable state of mind:
"I know what you mean. I need to get out of my parents' house, but it's so hard to make myself. I'm not sure I'm ready."
He laughs. "Christ, K-drama, you still live with your parents? What are you, twelve? Man, you need a new place even worse than I do."
When he walks away, he's still laughing, his shoulders shaking. Asshole. (99)
and the three chapters later, he's like
It's driving me crazy, not knowing what's eating at her, which is dumb; who cares? Anyway, she'll probably bitch and moan about it in the car, whatever it is. Nothing that's my problem. (132)
God, he's just the opposite of a decent human being. Like, not only does he manage to make her feel like absolute shit about revealing her feelings, he also manages to be racist and an asshole.
Let's just talk about why I hated reading from his POV:
"Zoe invited me," she says sweetly, as if I like Zoe any better. She's not even as hot.
Especially since his co-star, Zoe Knight, is semi-hot, and I haven't tapped her yet.
"I will give you a billion dollars to get them the fuck out of here."
She [Vanessa] raises an eyebrow. "What makes you think I'd be able to do that."
"I have no idea. But Ally would be able to, and you're the closest thing I've got since my asshole bestfriend checked on me. Come on. I'm sure some men find you vaguely attractive, in a boy-chested kind of way. Go charm them." Sparks shoot from her eyes. Whoops. "I mean..."
"Oh, shut up," she mutters.
...and Natasha Rivers, who once gave me surprisingly good head in an alley about a mile from here.
My eyes shift from Mini-Jade's tits back over K-drama legs before returning to Royce.
every female character he describes in relation to how hot they are, or how much he would want to bang them. and i'm sure there are guys like this, i just don't want to read their perspective on life. i would literally do anything else but that. it makes me want to throw up. he makes me want to.
like, he's just an absolute dick to Vanessa and she's always like "ugh, whatever" but I'd literally punch him. or never acknowledge his existence again. i don't know why she continues to be around when he acts like this around her??
I'm contemplating calling her again, and of course that's exactly when I hear, "You still PMS-ing, K-drama?"
On top of everything, the writing style isn't great, and it's almost choppy. There's a part where he suddenly likes Vanessa, and then he sees her kiss Bri and then it suddenly disappears again. And the thing is that he's always constantly putting her down in all the chapters leading up to this that it's so weird to think that he has a thing for her. And it also pushes that narrative that "boys tease/bully girls because they secretly like them" when he's just a dick. God. I'm so tired of him.
The one star is for Vanessa and Bri, because I did love them. But I will never read this book again.
frogy927's review against another edition
3.0
I can't decide if three stars is overselling it and I saw that I gave the first one two. I liked it by the end, but it took a long time for me to get into it. I hate to say this, but it's possible that I've finally aged out of YA. Or at least some of the more cheesy, mediocre YA. I find myself having a hard time rooting for a character when the only person standing in their way is themselves. Get over your whining and go find some externally driven plot points.
dominicanbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
Sweet, cute, funny, charming and important story.
"You are a lesbian not an axe murderer." Ohmygod.
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I received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.
"You are a lesbian not an axe murderer." Ohmygod.
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I received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.
hazelstaybookish's review against another edition
4.0
As always, Dahlia Adler's stories and dialogue are so addictive- totally finished this in one sitting. Josh was a raging asshole but a charming fun one (that I just can't resist for the life of me) and his growth in the story was great. Even though the book began and ended with chapters from him, I think the heart of the story truly is Vanessa's realisations about her sexuality and her romance with Brianna. Can I just say Dahlia totally nailed sexy F/F? And also, it was so great to see Ally and Liam still going strong and #LiamProblems was just so freaking amusing. Is it obvious that I absolutely adored this book yet???? Full review tk.
caresays's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't read the first Daylight Falls book (though now I might), but upon seeing the description for this book, I knew I had to get my hands on an ARC.
To be honest, I'm not a fan of Josh Chester -- his bad boy witticisms are frowned upon, but tolerated, and he's not exactly punished for his behavior. Maybe I needed to have read the first book to really get that. I did like Though I cared very, very little about his personal drama and what was happening outside of Vanessa-world.
BECAUSE OH MY GOD VANESSA PARK. My heart's going to bang out of my chest. What a perfectly wonderful romance! With so many makeouts! fjielajfe;waijfe;wjfa;ea; everything was so perfect about her and Bri. Adler does this rather impressive job of nailing exactly how hard it is to be a WOC in Hollywood, expanding on Vanessa's fears, and also on her fraught relationship with her parents. The cultural gap is hard. I also looooved Bri. She was great -- confidently queer. My favorite thing about her was probably As a queer Asian woman, I really thought this was an authentic representation, and that felt great.
Now I'm going to re-read the kissing like 500 more times.
To be honest, I'm not a fan of Josh Chester -- his bad boy witticisms are frowned upon, but tolerated, and he's not exactly punished for his behavior. Maybe I needed to have read the first book to really get that. I did like
Spoiler
his slow turnaround on Vanessa though, and their friendship was super lovely and sweet towards the end.BECAUSE OH MY GOD VANESSA PARK. My heart's going to bang out of my chest. What a perfectly wonderful romance! With so many makeouts! fjielajfe;waijfe;wjfa;ea; everything was so perfect about her and Bri. Adler does this rather impressive job of nailing exactly how hard it is to be a WOC in Hollywood, expanding on Vanessa's fears, and also on her fraught relationship with her parents. The cultural gap is hard. I also looooved Bri. She was great -- confidently queer. My favorite thing about her was probably
Spoiler
the scene when she goes over to Vanessa's apartment for the first time, and they're talking, and Bri lays out exactly why she can't hide who she is. It's this wonderfully-written, startling articulate moment that rings so deeply true for any queer person who's been with anyone confused.Now I'm going to re-read the kissing like 500 more times.
bookmarklit's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars | Eek that was fantastic. I think that was my first F/F romance (embarrassing) and I totally loved it. These two were amazing and I loooooved Vanessa and Josh's points of view for this book. I'll admit I liked Van's a bit more, but Josh's journey was great too.
letsgolesbians's review against another edition
3.0
Pros:
-One of the main characters was a person of color.
-Another character was bisexual.
-Any biphobia was immediately chastised.
-There wasn't a lot about Los Angeles, which I appreciated because usually people try to write about LA and they get everything incorrect.
Cons:
-The other main character is a total douchebag. Realistic, sure, but I didn't like him, nor did I care to read about his exploits.
-The POC main character felt very shallow.
-I'm sick of the trope of someone cheating on their SO but it's okay because the SO is mean/rude/also cheating/gay/etc.
I don't remember the first Daylight Falls. I know I got annoyed a lot. And I got annoyed with this one. The narration switches between Vanessa and Josh, and Josh's story just felt so...irrelevant. I think he was put in as a main character to balance things out, but I just didn't care. I cared about Vanessa and her struggle and her journey (though at the same time, she felt very shallow to me. She kept talking about the importance of being a minority on television, but that was it. Everything else she said was very shallow), and while I appreciated how realistic Josh was, I didn't like him, nor did I care about his story. I know that I didn't love Ally's narration in the first book, but I would rather have had this book go back and forth between Ally being in college and Vanessa being in LA, and both of them trying to navigate changes in their friendship based on location and being separated and how Van was dealing with her sexuality. I had to speed read a lot of this book because I just didn't care. I liked all the stuff between the two girls, but I don't think I'm cut out for romance books, because while I'm happy when girls get together, I also need just a little bit more to the rest of the story.
-One of the main characters was a person of color.
-Another character was bisexual.
-Any biphobia was immediately chastised.
-There wasn't a lot about Los Angeles, which I appreciated because usually people try to write about LA and they get everything incorrect.
Cons:
-The other main character is a total douchebag. Realistic, sure, but I didn't like him, nor did I care to read about his exploits.
-The POC main character felt very shallow.
-I'm sick of the trope of someone cheating on their SO but it's okay because the SO is mean/rude/also cheating/gay/etc.
I don't remember the first Daylight Falls. I know I got annoyed a lot. And I got annoyed with this one. The narration switches between Vanessa and Josh, and Josh's story just felt so...irrelevant. I think he was put in as a main character to balance things out, but I just didn't care. I cared about Vanessa and her struggle and her journey (though at the same time, she felt very shallow to me. She kept talking about the importance of being a minority on television, but that was it. Everything else she said was very shallow), and while I appreciated how realistic Josh was, I didn't like him, nor did I care about his story. I know that I didn't love Ally's narration in the first book, but I would rather have had this book go back and forth between Ally being in college and Vanessa being in LA, and both of them trying to navigate changes in their friendship based on location and being separated and how Van was dealing with her sexuality. I had to speed read a lot of this book because I just didn't care. I liked all the stuff between the two girls, but I don't think I'm cut out for romance books, because while I'm happy when girls get together, I also need just a little bit more to the rest of the story.
ralique's review against another edition
3.0
This book didn't go where I expected it to (from the blurb) but I'm impressed! Good on the author for creating Vanessa- it's great to have more representation in novels.
aileenberg's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting but I really wanted a sequel on the last book... Still cool tho!
whenrainbowsend's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0