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A review by daffodill37
A Holly Jolly Ever After by Sierra Simone, Julie Murphy
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
(Audio)
This book starts off fun and sweet and sexy but takes a surprisingly dark and (emotionally) scary turn a little over halfway through. I will say it does have a really lovely HEA but there really ought to be some warnings on this book. I'm going to include them below so, FYI, spoilers ahead.
I'd also like to note that the characters were lovable and fun and it's nice to see some familiar characters sort of in the background. I think the writing is fine and the setting/characters are all just fine but the storyline was far from fun and fancy free like previous installments.
Now, to the warnings/spoilers here.
There is an unexpected pregnancy with physical complications that is used as the main plot driver for the second half of the book. At one point we are set up to reasonably believe that the characters could potentially lose the (very much wanted) pregnancy.
While we're talking about warnings let's go ahead and mention that we have a very awful, overbearing and unsupportive set of parents. This story also revolves around the character's previous life of religion and purity culture (which is actively challenged by this character as well as many others).
This is honestly not the book I expected to read and wouldn't recommended it to anyone due to the themes it works with.
This book starts off fun and sweet and sexy but takes a surprisingly dark and (emotionally) scary turn a little over halfway through. I will say it does have a really lovely HEA but there really ought to be some warnings on this book. I'm going to include them below so, FYI, spoilers ahead.
I'd also like to note that the characters were lovable and fun and it's nice to see some familiar characters sort of in the background. I think the writing is fine and the setting/characters are all just fine but the storyline was far from fun and fancy free like previous installments.
Now, to the warnings/spoilers here.
There is an unexpected pregnancy with physical complications that is used as the main plot driver for the second half of the book. At one point we are set up to reasonably believe that the characters could potentially lose the (very much wanted) pregnancy.
While we're talking about warnings let's go ahead and mention that we have a very awful, overbearing and unsupportive set of parents. This story also revolves around the character's previous life of religion and purity culture (which is actively challenged by this character as well as many others).
This is honestly not the book I expected to read and wouldn't recommended it to anyone due to the themes it works with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship