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cover2covertx's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This one is a tricky one for me to review, so let's just dig in.
The Plot
We have a plus size & spunky Athena Greydon, lover of absolutely everything who wants to experience everything she can & has never held a job for more than 4 years. Her latest being teaching which caused her to experience such burn out that she's desperate for a time out. So, when the handsome small town pediatrician of Harlot's Bay, Johnny, catches her up in a whirlwind romance & proposes, she gladly accepts. Johnny promises to give her an adventure in his small spirited town and a much needed rest after a difficult few years in education.
The only problem? Johnny's older brother & surrogate father, Matthew, doesn't like Athena's "flaky" history and makes it known, even after spending a perfect meet cute moment with her at her own engagement party before realizing who she is. So, when Matthew is ultimately successful in convincing Johnny to break off the engagement she does what any sensible woman whose plans have burned to the ground would do- moves next door to her ex.
What I Loved
Who wouldn't love that plot? Plus this is Olivia Dade we're talking about here and I absolutely LOVE her books. Like always, her plus size characters give great fat joy rep in the story, with the FMC's body being so casually described throughout the book that it's effortless and gives her readers the rep they crave without the fatphobia side plot that some books do (and there's absolutely room for books about fat struggles, but fat joy is where my heart is).
The humor and wit in the story is spot on what I expected with an Olivia Dade book. She's proven once again she writes geeks and nerds well. In this book we got to see a more academic and curious minded nerd with Athena lovingly referring to her nightly Google habits as "consulting Professor Google" as she writes down things she's curious about all day and spends her evenings winding down and learning new things.
The side characters!! If Karl the baker who listens unapologetically to monster romance audio books at LOUD volumes isn't the MC of her next book in this series then I will revolt. Everything about the town of Harlot Bay is like Gilmore Girls if we had more Kirks than Lorelais and I was HERE for it. :)
Things I Struggled With
I'm going to call this part things I struggled with instead of things I didn't love because to be honest after talking this out with some of my closest reading buddies I realized the problems I did have with this book that kept it from being a 5 star read for me (which I always have done in the past with Olivia Dade's books) were personal.
My problem was that Athena's character goes through quite a struggle with depression in the story and it's explicitly on the page for a good chunk of the story. Olivia Dade gave very comprehensive trigger warnings and I appreciated this but I did struggle quite a bit with how heavy this content was in a story I was expecting to be a little more comedic given the blurb of the book. However, I do believe a lot of this was due to the fact that Athena's character- from her personality, situation and even her career choice- mirrored my own life so very much that it hit me harder. I definitely had to be a lot more careful with myself due to the content about depression since a lot of her reasons for her depressive state were ones I struggled with myself when I was battling depression. So again, this was on me as a reader to just be a little more careful.
Final Thoughts
Is this book one I would recommend? Whole-heartedly.
Will I be reading the next book in this series? 100% ESPECIALLY IF IT'S KARL!
Do I think paying attention to the Trigger & Content warnings of this book is especially important? YES. There's also child death and it was jarring as a parent. While it was not explicitly "on the page", a character tells the story through their own memories and it was a little too detailed for my reader tastes. It hit way too close to home.
Thank you so much to NetGalley & Avon books for the chance to read yet another amazing book by Olivia Dade.
The Plot
We have a plus size & spunky Athena Greydon, lover of absolutely everything who wants to experience everything she can & has never held a job for more than 4 years. Her latest being teaching which caused her to experience such burn out that she's desperate for a time out. So, when the handsome small town pediatrician of Harlot's Bay, Johnny, catches her up in a whirlwind romance & proposes, she gladly accepts. Johnny promises to give her an adventure in his small spirited town and a much needed rest after a difficult few years in education.
The only problem? Johnny's older brother & surrogate father, Matthew, doesn't like Athena's "flaky" history and makes it known, even after spending a perfect meet cute moment with her at her own engagement party before realizing who she is. So, when Matthew is ultimately successful in convincing Johnny to break off the engagement she does what any sensible woman whose plans have burned to the ground would do- moves next door to her ex.
What I Loved
Who wouldn't love that plot? Plus this is Olivia Dade we're talking about here and I absolutely LOVE her books. Like always, her plus size characters give great fat joy rep in the story, with the FMC's body being so casually described throughout the book that it's effortless and gives her readers the rep they crave without the fatphobia side plot that some books do (and there's absolutely room for books about fat struggles, but fat joy is where my heart is).
The humor and wit in the story is spot on what I expected with an Olivia Dade book. She's proven once again she writes geeks and nerds well. In this book we got to see a more academic and curious minded nerd with Athena lovingly referring to her nightly Google habits as "consulting Professor Google" as she writes down things she's curious about all day and spends her evenings winding down and learning new things.
The side characters!! If Karl the baker who listens unapologetically to monster romance audio books at LOUD volumes isn't the MC of her next book in this series then I will revolt. Everything about the town of Harlot Bay is like Gilmore Girls if we had more Kirks than Lorelais and I was HERE for it. :)
Things I Struggled With
I'm going to call this part things I struggled with instead of things I didn't love because to be honest after talking this out with some of my closest reading buddies I realized the problems I did have with this book that kept it from being a 5 star read for me (which I always have done in the past with Olivia Dade's books) were personal.
My problem was that Athena's character goes through quite a struggle with depression in the story and it's explicitly on the page for a good chunk of the story. Olivia Dade gave very comprehensive trigger warnings and I appreciated this but I did struggle quite a bit with how heavy this content was in a story I was expecting to be a little more comedic given the blurb of the book. However, I do believe a lot of this was due to the fact that Athena's character- from her personality, situation and even her career choice- mirrored my own life so very much that it hit me harder. I definitely had to be a lot more careful with myself due to the content about depression since a lot of her reasons for her depressive state were ones I struggled with myself when I was battling depression. So again, this was on me as a reader to just be a little more careful.
Final Thoughts
Is this book one I would recommend? Whole-heartedly.
Will I be reading the next book in this series? 100% ESPECIALLY IF IT'S KARL!
Do I think paying attention to the Trigger & Content warnings of this book is especially important? YES. There's also child death and it was jarring as a parent. While it was not explicitly "on the page", a character tells the story through their own memories and it was a little too detailed for my reader tastes. It hit way too close to home.
Thank you so much to NetGalley & Avon books for the chance to read yet another amazing book by Olivia Dade.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Child death, and Grief
Minor: Gore
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