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mmccombs's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I loved the distinct, irreverent voice of this book, it was casual and introspective and silly and vulnerable, kind of like reading a diary. I love reading books that feel like watching train wrecks, I could see the ending coming from a mile away but still felt satisfied when we got there. I do think this could have been shorter, it was pretty repetitive (we get it! Things are messy!). I also couldn’t help but feel so distracted by the Covid content, I know the pandemic experience in Australia was different than it was in the U.S., but doing an affair during a pandemic whilst your partner is pregnant and therefore more vulnerable!! just feels extra disrespectful, and the overall tone about it was so blasé on the verge of feeling gross to me.
On the whole I really enjoyed this in a #relatable way, a great depiction of late-stage capitalist malaise and the extent to which we will go just to feel something at all.
On the whole I really enjoyed this in a #relatable way, a great depiction of late-stage capitalist malaise and the extent to which we will go just to feel something at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Animal death and Eating disorder
litpikachu's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
alicesayshi's review against another edition
emotional
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, and Eating disorder
magretfume's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Animal death
onion's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Alcohol, Grief, Self harm, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, and Body shaming
star's review
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
i received this book through a little free library. it is an ARC -- i believe the actual release date is in a few days. i am hoping that it will be different in its final form.
this book was.... for lack of a better way of putting it, extremely painful to get through. the plot can easily be explained through the synopsis on the back cover - woman, 24 years old, falls in love with 40-something year old married man.
i disliked this book immensely, but was attached enough to hera that i wanted to see it through. i am relieved to have finished it, and pray i never know about a sequel if it comes up - as it was hard to get through, for sure, but i am attached enough i fear i may read it.
hera is... frustrating. she reminds me a lot of myself a few years ago (which makes sense, as we were born in similar years - if she were real, she would be probably a year older than me now), i will say it's nice to see a problematic bi girl out there in the wild - i did laugh at the mention of co-star for sure.
but this book was.... not my favorite, and i really really had to push myself HARD (to the point of forcing myself) to get through it. i will be donating this to a different LFL on it's release date... good luck to whoever gets it.
spoiler tags for the rest of my thoughts.
hera is an irony-poisoned asshole! which is sad to say, as i had to frequently put the book down due to how much she reminded me of me a few years ago. it took me almost 2 months to get through the first part of the book (the book is split into 5 parts, or at least, the ARC is.) this was in part due to the lackluster writing style but also the extremely frustrating way that hera behaved.
i HATED arthur the entire time. this was so typical, "i love you and ill tell my wife sometime soon, promise". i thought the pull at the end with maisie was awful, too, and imagine knowing for your entire life that you named your baby the thing your mistress suggested! i kept wanting hera to fucking talk to kate about it... but she never did. UGH.
and jesus christ, the way that hera treated her fucking dad. that poor man. and poor jude.
this book was.... for lack of a better way of putting it, extremely painful to get through. the plot can easily be explained through the synopsis on the back cover - woman, 24 years old, falls in love with 40-something year old married man.
i disliked this book immensely, but was attached enough to hera that i wanted to see it through. i am relieved to have finished it, and pray i never know about a sequel if it comes up - as it was hard to get through, for sure, but i am attached enough i fear i may read it.
hera is... frustrating. she reminds me a lot of myself a few years ago (which makes sense, as we were born in similar years - if she were real, she would be probably a year older than me now), i will say it's nice to see a problematic bi girl out there in the wild - i did laugh at the mention of co-star for sure.
but this book was.... not my favorite, and i really really had to push myself HARD (to the point of forcing myself) to get through it. i will be donating this to a different LFL on it's release date... good luck to whoever gets it.
spoiler tags for the rest of my thoughts.
i HATED arthur the entire time. this was so typical, "i love you and ill tell my wife sometime soon, promise". i thought the pull at the end with maisie was awful, too, and imagine knowing for your entire life that you named your baby the thing your mistress suggested! i kept wanting hera to fucking talk to kate about it... but she never did. UGH.
and jesus christ, the way that hera treated her fucking dad. that poor man. and poor jude.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Infidelity, and Animal death
Moderate: Pregnancy and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Eating disorder and War
theunfinishedbookshelf's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Animal death
Moderate: Pregnancy
hannahs_library__'s review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Illicit Affairs (angry version) + Full Machine by Gracie Abrams = Green Dot 🟢
Read this if you like:
- All character, no plot
- Sad lit fic
- Age gap
- Toxic situationships
- Character development
- Sarcastic, cynical writing
Fresh out of school with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, 24 year old Hera is entering “the real world” for the first time. As she navigates the corporate world she is quickly swept up in an office romance with a man who is married and almost twice her age… ✨
If you don’t like cynical, sarcastic lit-fic writing, this might not be for you but if you do, you NEED to read this book!! This is not for everybody. I’d say, if you’re less than 30% cynical, I can almost guarantee that you won’t like this. Madeleine’s writing is incredible but optimistically cynical. (That makes sense in my head I swear.)
I loved this book so much that I annotated. I NEVER do that! 🤯 How was she able to take thoughts I've had in the deep, dark depths of my mind and form them into perfectly coherent literature?! I had so many epiphany moments while reading this book where I would read a sentence that perfectly described a morsel of a thought that I had never been able to fully formulate or explain. Even now, looking back through my highlights, I want to reread the entire book.
“I was the first girl Max had met who understood his cinematic references. Max was the first boy I'd met who seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say.”
Hera is definitely a mirrorball girl, she’s so introspective and self-aware. I adore her.
I will be honest, part 1 was hard to get into. I had to get used to the dark, sarcastic tone but once I did… absolutely hooked. 🎣 I found myself rooting for Hera and completely invested in the story. Even now, a few months later, I still think about this book all the time.
Highly recommend this to all the lit fic, all character-no plot girlies :) thank you sooo much to Holt for an early copy!
Content Warnings
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Animal death
gracesullentrup's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Reading from Hera's perspective is like spending time with your best friend and enjoying a day together and then suddenly realizing they are the most insightful, funny, and exciting person you've ever met. The Hera's tangents were so fun to follow, I loved her savviness and quips. I loved this story, I felt enveloped from the beginning. Toward the end there was a touch of fourth-wall breaking that didn't feel totally explained, but I could easily see Hera writing this novel in a journal to process. Gray writes it herself: this book is perfect for the "young, smart-mouthed, female, reasonably big-titted". Reminded me a lot of Dolly Alderton's wittiness and Emily Henry's emotionally resonate characters. I cannot wait to read more of what Madeline Gray writes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Fatphobia, Animal death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Infertility and Biphobia
maddiemooney's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
She’s a mess!!
I loved these characters even though they were the worst!
I loved these characters even though they were the worst!
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Biphobia, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Pandemic/Epidemic