Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Bittersweet Memories

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Bittersweet Memories by Catharina Maura

5 reviews

secondhandbookshelves's review

dark medium-paced

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

1.5

First of all, I cannot get over the fact that they met and fell in love when she was 14 and he was 5 years older.
Second, everyone either monologues or speaks in paragraphs. Even as teenagers the characters have very long speeches with extremely proper grammar & formal tones.
No one talks like that.
I guess it's cute that they reconnect when she's 23 and he's rich but there was so much trauma and weird vibes throughout the book that I could not get over & enjoy the story.
ALSO - not ONCE did the girl give herself a Google. Five years of no memory but a driver's license and she didn't think to check out a single thing.
There were some cute lines & nice notes about grief, but not enough for me to overlook the rest of the disappointment I found here.
Will not be rereading & probably won't check out more from this author.

I hate that Amy ended up with Ryan. The author made such a big deal out of how much Amy didn't trust him, how she had such good intuition and then with one line, boom, they're dating. He has almost no personality and I doubt he would change from the scornful baby he was SO quickly.

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dxisymitch's review

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emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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jesshiltbrand's review

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This is one of the first books I’ve ever had to DNF and it’s not without good reason. I only made it about 100 pages in because I really tried to give it a fair shot, but the premise is truly gross. For as long as I read, the main guy is literally preying on the underage female lead starting when she’s like 14??! They literally meet at a cemetery and he makes note that she’s pretty and will grow up to be even prettier. Then fast forward 2 years and she is still a minor and he very much is like 21/22 and when they come back into each others lives he ‘fights’ off these feelings as much as possible yet doesn’t actually stop himself at all from constantly thinking about her body and how he knows this isn’t a good idea, etc. The only reason I kept reading (despite physically cringing the majority of it) was because I was hoping that maybe this was all just backstory and he was actually the villain. After seeing other reviews (honestly not enough calling out how blatantly predatory and gross their entire situation is), I find out that he is definitely still the love interest throughout. And on top of the grossness of the relationship, the story is just.. not good?

the entirety of their relationship begins because they’re both super wealthy and then one parent dies and then he becomes homeless and then 2 years later her wealthy dad dies and she becomes homeless?

I truly could not recommend a book less.

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alysapalazzo's review

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fast-paced

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

2.0

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thisisris's review

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DNF’d at 9% which is about the time the 21 year old starts flirting with the 16 year old. I thought the book was called off limits because she dates her ex boyfriends older brother not because the books starts off with the guy saying inappropriate things to a minor 😭😭 Like there’s no coming back from how uncomfortable and icky I feel about the situation.

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