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takarakei's reviews
438 reviews
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Unfortunately the struggle was felt while reading. The pace of the book was a bit slow - not a lot happening from each character's pov until towards the end. It felt a little meander-y and I wasn't super engaged overall. The political storyline in particular I did not find super compelling. I did really enjoy the 'interruption' chapters that visited the other cities & really emphasizing just how young the US (and NYC) is. I found the ending to be a bit too tidy also. I really loved the first book, so it's a shame this one didn't quite meet that high bar.
These remain fantastic audiobooks, they really are almost like graphic audios with sound fx! If you're going to read this series and enjoy audiobooks I highly recommend those.
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Transphobia, Gun violence, and Police brutality
Minor: Homophobia
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Grief
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
It's a little puzzling to me this book isn't being marketed as belonging to the Part of Your World series because they are connected. But it also seems as if all Abby's books have little easter eggs and she is building her own cinematic universe.
I enjoyed the funny way these two main characters meet on Reddit and the whole setup to 'break a relationship curse'. Obviously as you read you know it's a romance and they have to fall for each other despite the set up. But this book ends up being about a lot more, as Abby's books often are. Emma is dealing with childhood trauma from a very unstable mother and this makes her very distant to people in her life, with the exception of her best friend/foster sister. They move around constantly and Emma can fit her whole life into two suitcases. Girl is running from her problems fr.
Justin is dealing with his own family drama as he is preparing to take over custody of his 3 younger siblings. Abby really knows how to write a book boyfriend! Justin is so funny and the 'date surveys' were sending me! He is so sweet with his siblings and shows early on that he is such a kind and caring person. Earlier on in the book there's plenty of laugh out loud moments. I loved how Emma teaches Justin about empathy for others because despite her rough childhood Emma is very forgiving.
The ending though had me so emotional! Abby really knows how to rip your heart out and stomp on it before putting it back together.
"Say Don't Go" by Taylor Swift
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Child abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Vomit
5.0
I've been vegan for a long time (over half my life) and I still learned so much from this book. If you are at all curious about veganism and why this lifestyle matters I urge you to read this book.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Sexism
- 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
3.25
The first half of this sequel wasn’t too bad, I was enjoying the banter between Remy and Malekh a lot. It was a tad spicier (still relatively closed door or just not graphic) but we do head into kink territory! The throuple relationship truly is the one saving grace in this book. However there wasn’t a ton more development persay, and there definitely wasn’t the same tension here from the first book.
I had such a hard time following this plot. There were a lot of new characters from different vampire courts introduced, but none of them felt distinct from each other so I couldn’t keep track of who was who and where their political loyalties were. It felt like there were multiple kind of plot twists (for lack of a better word) happening and the plot got really convoluted. I love political fantasies, but this was poorly done because it moved very slow and felt like a really different world almost from the first book. Idk there was a lot of new world building which seems strange for the second book in a duology.
The action scenes, which were so fun to read in the first book, in this were sparse and very quick. Every conflict seemed to be resolved too easily (this was a bit of my critique in the first book as well, but was exacerbated here). Monsters like weren’t the focus anymore??
It also definitely could’ve been at least 100 pages shorter.
Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Dementia, Genocide, War, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Death
Minor: Abandonment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Body horror, Colonisation, and Racism
Moderate: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury
Be sure to check content warnings!
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Racism and Dysphoria
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Bobbi is planning her bff's Desi wedding (Kareena and Prem from book 1) and Bunty is friends with the couple as well. But someone is trying to sabotage the wedding and Bobbi is dealing with all these mishaps along the way. This story line added a bit to the book, but it was also a tad silly in places. Both Bobbi and Bunty are next in line to family businesses (one wants that and the other does not) and so they are often dealing complex family dynamics related to that.
Spice: 4/5, kink positive
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Fatphobia and Racism
Minor: Body shaming and Death of parent
4.25
Definitely showed how my past work situations were doing basically the opposite of everything in this book which is why they were so toxic.
Minor: Alcoholism, Addiction, and Racism
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
There's great Filipino representation and I definitely appreciated reading a romance very connected with that culture. Sure there's lots of words that I didn't know the meaning of, but it's not my culture and I got the gist of those parts. I'm sure that Filipinos reading this will appreciate the language and references! Lots of discussions around Olivia being a BIPOC/South Asian actress working in Hollywood (constantly dealing with racism and just wishing to be cast for roles that don't hide ethnicity).
This clearly was also written at the height of the pandemic and there were lots of specific topical references that I think in a short time might make this book read a bit outdated.
Spice: 3.5/5
Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC.
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Sexual content
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia