Reviews

For Better or Worse by R. Cooper

iam's review

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4.0

Short and bittersweet romance between two firefighters who've been going through the motions of dating for years but never talked about it.
As a reader I found them dancing around the important conversation frustrating; as a queer person I could understand their caution about coming out, especially with their pasts, and it was bittersweet.

The writing was fine, if a bit confusing and disjointed at parts. Especially transitions between memories and happening in the present were lacking.

I particularly liked the way demisexuality was portrayed in this book.

Content warnings include: sex on-page, homophobia, gossiping, references to a forced outing of a side character and getting kicked out for being gay.

j_wdn's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

4.25

suflet's review

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5.0

The first R. Cooper book I ever read!! I loved it and it lead to me charging through the rest of R. Cooper's books. This was a lovely story!

ltz's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

breadedbookpages's review

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5.0

This was so cute yet so heavy that I needed to take breaks. Maybe that was because I have a sore throat that's messing me up. Anyway, the explicit Demisexual rep in this made me sob with relief. I loved that Jimmy and Javier's friendship is such a tightly knit thing and how Javier interacted with the guys at the fire-station. Tiny especially is a great example of an ally to the queer community.

leahkarge's review

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4.0

Rep: biromantic demisexual mc, gay li, latinx mc

Warnings: ableism

emberjay's review

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fast-paced

3.0

cmira2027's review

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5.0

Sweet

This author never disappoints. A wonderful short story of love and friendship between to fire fighters that will leave you, like Jimmy and Javi, happy.

s4r1's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective

5.0

bookstacksamber's review

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3.0

This felt like I jumped into the middle of a story without any knowledge of what was going on. I checked 3 different times to make sure I didn't miss a couple chapters at the beginning, but I guess that's just how it was written. Javier and Jimmy's characters were also so similar for the first half of the book that I was constantly getting them confused. More backstory and characterization at the beginning would have made this a 4 or 5 star book for me. I loved the demisexual rep and that we got to see Javi talk through it and explain it to several characters.