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This was a book I heard about on TikTok when it came out. I bought it immediately but then life got in the way, and it sat on my shelf until this month. I bought this book because it was sold to me as a literary sultry, summer read full of yearning and beauty. Instead, I got trauma-filled, inspiration p0rn. This book was not a literary masterpiece. It was a dark, past love romance book. Which is fine. There’s times for that. But that’s not what I was expecting.
Now to the actual book. And I found this book particularly frustrating because I felt the author chose the wrong story to tell. We kept hearing about the story Eva wanted to tell- one of the women in her life and their sordid pasts. That was the most intriguing thread in the book and the most we learned about it was in the epilogue (which was needlessly tacked on and canceled out any impact the ending had). I wanted more of Eva and Audre as a duo, not this precocious child who parent traps her mom in the end.
The adult versions of Eva and Shane felt like the figures on an inspirational billboard about saying no to drugs. They lacked a lot of complexity while the teen versions of them were so overly complex.
And that’s my biggest issue of this novel. I felt the teen story was handled irresponsibly and tastelessly. It was every sad tragic stereotype you could throw at two characters. It felt so overwrought and overwritten. Complex and triggering at a level I felt was not enjoyable OR edifying to read. Also, the character of Ty was completely irrelevant and a painfully reckless portrayal of a young black teen. Using a young black male dying as plot device was NOT necessary or good in my opinion.
This book should have been either a fun, steamy romp during a summer in NYC OR an introspective tale of a mother and daughter and the mother’s long ancestral line of troubled women. And the teen plot need not exist.
Also to note, style wise I found the insistent need to denote every single brand a character was wearing (in parenthesis of course) and CONSTANT pop culture references/Name drops instantly dated and cheapened the writing. There were some moments of nice prose, but overall the writing felt cheap.
I wanted so much more for this book, but I blame it on the advertising.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Abandonment
Minor: Sexual content
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs
Moderate: Chronic illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Medical content
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Car accident, Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol
Graphic: Chronic illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Chronic illness, Drug use, Self harm
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Sexual content
Minor: Bullying
Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Abandonment
Minor: Child death, Sexual assault
Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Abandonment
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Car accident
Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Self harm
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment
Minor: Gun violence
While this book held a lot of trauma, it somehow lacked depth for me. Perhaps a trauma bond just wasn’t enough. Nonetheless I did find many of the characters lovable and I do think the story will translate well to the screen. Though, I still think it would be better on the big screen than the small screen. We shall see!
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Self harm, Blood, Vomit
Moderate: Child death