Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Only Love Can Hurt Like This

I listened to this audiobook because I love the narrator and decided to take a chance on it despite mixed reviews. I am very torn over the ethics of this type of story. For me, the writing gets a 10/10: I loved the characters, their direct communication, and character development, as well as the writing style. The part I struggle with is that i just don't know how i feel about divorce in Anders' situation... I'd try another book by Paige Toon, but maybe check content warnings beforehand 🤷🏻‍♀️
TW: infidelity

Content Warnings

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was absolutely gut wrenching and made me ball my eyes out a couple times but I loved it nonetheless. One thing I will say is that both the mc’s are better than me bc I’m one petty mf and I’m the type to hold grudges until the day I die, so for them to be so forgiving and even APOLOGIZE to the people that wronged them made me want to jump into the book and slap some sense into them and the person hurting them.

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ecravens's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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raereadssmut's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful slow-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed this book, I really did!

However, I found Wren to be a very flat character. I wish she had more to her, more…. Personality? A lot of how Wren feels about things are a matter of misperception. I don’t want spoiler anything specifically though, so I’ll keep it at that.
While I did like Anders’ character, I wish he had more of a backbone.

This book was a slooowwwwwwwwwwww burn. Like literally, not even a kiss happened between the two MC’s until 75ish pages before the end of the book. Literally. Like when I say SLOW BURN….. I mean SLOWWWW.

Also- the epilogue could’ve been cut in half. It did NOT need to be dragged out on so many pages.

All in all, I did enjoy it tho. It was cute and kind of heartbreaking, but I didn’t cry about anything that was happening. So it wasn’t like soul-shattering. But it was good!

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

This might sound weird, but this book was exactly the right amount of devastating. I probably should have expected some pain from the title, but I didn't expect how *real* this book would feel. It was sad, and there were some dramatic revelations of course, but it felt so--I don't know how to put it. Reasonable? It felt like real people making real decisions in a really tough, complicated situation that can easily be seen from very different perspectives.

I would definitely recommend Only Love Can Hurt Like This to fans of romance, drama, contemporary fiction, and character-focused stories. I loved this book and definitely want to read more of Toon's work now. Thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the chance to read and review this ARC.

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what_karla_reads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

5/5 stars
1/5 spice

An intense love story full of heart break and hope. I was hurting right up until the last couple of chapters.

Tropes:
Forbidden love
Close proximity
Friends to lovers
Hurting / Healing
Found family

I think the author did an amazing job keeping the reader on edge the entire time. Anders and Wren's love story was a slow burn laced with tragedy, but you just couldn't help holding out hope that things would turn around for them. It was excruciating but so honest and raw. I was dying for Anders' POV. I never expected to read his POV, so when it came at the end when everything was so tense it was an amazing surprise and very emotional.

I loved the whole cast of characters and felt that Wren was such a relatable heroine. All the emotional damage she had from feeling her father's neglect, her ex's betrayal, feeling less than compared to her sister, Bailey... it was all expressed so well that you could really feel what she was going through. The growth Wren experienced outside of her story with Anders was nice to see. I'm happy she repaired her family relationships and made new friends that would give her that sense of community.

This wasn't a fully closed door romance since there was one full scene, but I rated it low because it wasn't very detailed. It wouldn't have made sense to have more in the story and I'm very satisfied with how the author handled that part.

Overall a great read with lots of angst, pining, and heart wrenching moments. Highly recommend for fans of forbidden romance and slow burn friends to lovers.

I was given an ARC by Netgalley and Penguin Group. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered freely.

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ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

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