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A review by legalplanner
Casual Sparks by Britton Ashley
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I wanted to love this so much, but the Swiftie references were too much for me I felt lost any time something was said because I'm not up on the swifitie-isms.
I do want to thank Torch Lit Ink for the opportunity to read this book.
I went into this loving the premise that these two people had an off handed chance meeting that somehow would stick with them and make them cross paths again. Daisy's family was an interesting bunch of people and seemed to be very close and would do anything for each other, but you could definitely see that they had always been in a safe place compared to Dolly.
It was really hard for me to follow the timeline of everything because the story seemed to jump back and forth during the POVs or from a memory to present day. Like the first time we meet Dolly, I'm unsure if this was pre-Halloween or post-Halloween or if this is in college/high school. It was nice that you were learning things as the story progressed, but it did make it a bit hard to figure out if you were in the present or not.
However, I really struggled with the flow of the book. There were many times where I wasn't sure who our narrator was in the middle of the chapters because it felt like the POV switched. I also found it hard to distinguish in the book if Daisy was in law school or not because in the book it made it seem like she had graduated law school when she was getting ready for law school. I also think that some of the trauma response is totally relatable, however the way it came off was super condescending and made me kind of dislike Dolly when I really wanted to like her.
Overall, it had too many references to pop culture that it felt like I was in over my head and couldn't enjoy the pieces of the story that were there.
I do want to thank Torch Lit Ink for the opportunity to read this book.
I went into this loving the premise that these two people had an off handed chance meeting that somehow would stick with them and make them cross paths again. Daisy's family was an interesting bunch of people and seemed to be very close and would do anything for each other, but you could definitely see that they had always been in a safe place compared to Dolly.
It was really hard for me to follow the timeline of everything because the story seemed to jump back and forth during the POVs or from a memory to present day. Like the first time we meet Dolly, I'm unsure if this was pre-Halloween or post-Halloween or if this is in college/high school. It was nice that you were learning things as the story progressed, but it did make it a bit hard to figure out if you were in the present or not.
However,
Overall, it had too many references to pop culture that it felt like I was in over my head and couldn't enjoy the pieces of the story that were there.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse