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A review by fromjuliereads
Only When It's Us by Chloe Liese
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
So I almost dnfed this book... at about 30-40% in. Through the whole beginning of the book, Willa is a fairly unlikeable character, and Ryder honestly wasn't far behind her. They were really kind of shit to each other and it wasn't entertaining to read? I was getting so frustrated. I took a break and decided to give it another try, and I'm glad I did. The second half of this book is much better than the first. BUT I still had quite a few issues with it... I will say that the scenes with both the moms were fabulous and I teared up more than once. And of course the HEA was cute. I liked the teasing and ribbing far more closer to the end since it was more real and sweet - not mean like at the beginning.
The couple things I struggled with:
- the HP references. It said in a foreword that the book had been edited for some reasons and I cannot understand why those weren't taken out too. There are quite a few pop culture references actually - some were fine, minor, but I wish authors would just stop using them when some don't age well...
- it felt a bit long... the build up and tension, the teasing and pranking (read kind of bullying) went on for waaayyyy too long and that was a big part of me being less interested.
- I'm not sure if this is just me... but it felt... off that Ryder doesn't speak or use hearing aids for basically the first 1/3 of the book, and by the half to the end, he is solely apeaking and using hearing aids. While it was great to see his growth with them and acceptance, it was kind of weird that the only references near the end was him taking his hearing aids on or off for sex or things... but obviously I cannot speak to the hearing loss rep, so take that with a grain of salt...
Anyways, it was fine.
Also side note - the side characters just drop off the face of the earth at points which was strange because they were kind of integral in the first half.
The couple things I struggled with:
- the HP references. It said in a foreword that the book had been edited for some reasons and I cannot understand why those weren't taken out too. There are quite a few pop culture references actually - some were fine, minor, but I wish authors would just stop using them when some don't age well...
- it felt a bit long... the build up and tension, the teasing and pranking (read kind of bullying) went on for waaayyyy too long and that was a big part of me being less interested.
- I'm not sure if this is just me... but it felt... off that Ryder doesn't speak or use hearing aids for basically the first 1/3 of the book, and by the half to the end, he is solely apeaking and using hearing aids. While it was great to see his growth with them and acceptance, it was kind of weird that the only references near the end was him taking his hearing aids on or off for sex or things... but obviously I cannot speak to the hearing loss rep, so take that with a grain of salt...
Anyways, it was fine.
Also side note - the side characters just drop off the face of the earth at points which was strange because they were kind of integral in the first half.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Cursing, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, Medical content, and Vomit