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jessereadsthings's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Infidelity
stacy837'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: Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, and Cursing
Minor: Infidelity
kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Cancer, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Death of parent
sophiesmallhands'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
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Toxic relationship, Biphobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, Cancer, Infidelity, and Gaslighting
readandfindout's review against another edition
3.75
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 3.5 stars
Plot: 3.5 stars
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Death, Mental illness, Vomit, and Death of parent
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Cancer, and Biphobia
Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Grief
sinaprst'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
4.75
BUT, where is my hot soft butch carpenter girlfriend???? And where is my cute and fluffy and fucking sexy love story???? I'm jealous, to say the least
(also, I am Astrid Parker, Astrid Parker is me... which was kind of scary, tbh)
recommended reading ambience: https://youtu.be/HIfc9O8cd84?si=XsjxqsAEmgx7UrA2
Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Outing
Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Death of parent, Infidelity, and Vomit
aileron'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
2.5
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, and Death of parent
bookswithjess'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
4.0
Reading about Astrid was lovely, you got to see who she actually is rather than who she is told she needs to be. She goes through self-discovery struggles, and she does her best, even if she doesn't feel up to it.
Jordan was a tougher perspective for me to get into, because the reason this novel got a 4 instead of a 5 is because of her, and her actions! Not that I didn't love her character - her experience was unique (to the books I've personally read) and something I was not anticipating. Spoiler: Cancer Mentions in the book, I do wish I knew of that prior but it wasn't a big part of the story, but it was mentioned a couple times. Still, the way Jordan thought of it and how it affected her life (spoiler: she was not the one with cancer) felt well-thought out and cared for.
Ashley Herring Blake has an amazing way of making the stories so enriching, it's not just about the two main characters but she's able to flesh out the surrounding characters as well. There was more to this book than just a love story, and I really loved that! I like seeing characters grow outside of the relationship that they're going to be in.
I do understand that she has big feelings over the renovations, since it means a lot to her and she has a lot of lovely memories there, but the issue is she didn't even try to voice her concern to her grandmother, her brother, to Astrid, to the producers, she just decided it's "my way or the highway" and started going behind their backs and did whatever she wanted, and just complain about Astrid's design instead of actually communicating?
In the end, when Astrid told everyone the truth it was Astrid who got blamed; however, it was actually Jordan's fault, in my opinion. They wouldn't have been in that situation if Jordan hadn't meddled or voiced her concern in the beginning.
Also, I think the author missed an opportunity by not outwardly getting Astrid (Jordan too, but mostly Astrid) into therapy after everything went down.
Moderate: Cancer and Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity
rickireadss's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Homophobia
Minor: Infidelity and Alcohol