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auteaandtales's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- 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
This is, somehow, my first book by Olivia Dade and I don’t know how I managed that, but I absolutely loved this. It had chemistry, it had humour, it had both lovable main characters AND side characters, the whole package really!
The depression representation was unexpected but welcome. I thought it was super accurate, especially things like punishing herself as ‘penance’ and having unkind thoughts that are really hard to tell are unkind at the time and feel like honesty that people around you aren’t giving you. The love interest handled this so well, he was so lovely and soft and sweet. I’m not into men, but if I was, I’d want a Matthew (who does remind me a lot of my own partner, though).
There were also big things mentioned that were treated like they were no big deal, and I really appreciated that. For example, Athena saying that she doesn’t want children and Matthew not losing his virginity until his thirties. When these things are brought up, there’s normally a lot of discussion on it/it’s made into a theme of the book and, although I don’t have an issue with that and appreciate that as well, I loved that it was just there. There was also zero fatphobia towards Athena, that I could see, which I really loved too.
I can’t wait to read more from this author
Thank you, Netgalley and publishes, for the eArc!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Police brutality
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