A review by lost_windsock
Holding On to a Hero by Bix Barrow

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book really sucked me in! I really enjoyed the plot. I found the pacing to be really great, and the interview pages in the middle were a surprising but really fun addition! Character wise, I thought all of the main and side characters were great and had the right amount of depth and personality to fit into the story perfectly. I loved Will, and I thought his back story was super unique and gave his character challenges to deal with that were realistic but not unbelievable. Dealing with the mental and physical consequences in the aftermath of his accident was a huge part of this book, but it was woven into the story and his interactions with all of the other characters really well. I enjoyed Jason and Cole's dynamic with each other, and all of the side characters were super well written and were used perfectly to deepen our connection to the main characters. I was totally surprised by the reveal at the end of the book and the mystery and dispense along the way were just super well done. As much as I enjoyed this book and will definitely read more in this series, there were a few things that did bother me about it, which is where the fifth star couldn't make it up there for me. There was quite a lot of editing weirdness in this book. Missing words, missing punctuation, that kind of thing, and one of my biggest pet peeves, the excessive thesaurus use. I'm all for trying to keep your writing interesting by diversifying the way you say things, but sometimes it's just not necessary and it sticks out like a sore thumb. This book also did have a heavy insta-love trope, which I'm not a super huge fan of when it isn't done really well, and it did feel like the relationship just developed way too fast. There were occasional time jumps in the beginning of their relationship where I wished we could have seen them having those moments of emotional development with each other instead of it just saying that they'd spent the day together. It would have made the speed that they developed feelings for each other feel more real, I think. The dialogue style also wasn't to my personal taste but it wasn't something that made me want to abandon ship because I was genuinely enjoying everything else about it. I'm excited to read more in this series and I hope they're all as fun as this one was!
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