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megelizabeth's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I really enjoyed the first third or so - I felt that the main characters instantly had great chemistry, and I loved that the plot went in a very different direction to the one I had been expecting. Unfortunately, as the book went on, the characters started to irritate me more and more, and I didn't end up loving the romance as much as I initially thought I would. I did appreciate some of the conversations around culture, identity, and immigrants' experiences, but I also found the commentary to generally be quite surface-level. Ultimately this book was fine; I enjoyed the experience of reading it overall, and there were elements I did like, but for me it started strong and went downhill, and just didn't live up to its potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death, Blood, Terminal illness, Racism, Misogyny, and Car accident
zombiezami's review against another edition
4.0
You know how a common feature and critique of romance as a genre is that problems would be easier to deal with or even resolved if characters communicated openly with one another? This book takes that concept to the nth degree. I felt that the escalation of the plot did happen quickly, but also that the author took a lot of risks that paid off. For example, in the opening pages of the book, the protagonist is on a blind date. Much of the exposition of her backstory is told by the date confirming or asking about details of her life. I thought that was clever.
Also, the author is great at misdirecting expectations and thus making room for big, dramatic reveals. Sometimes, those reveals felt very silly. Other times, I felt that the reveals put you right in the headspace of particular characters in the book.
Also, the author is great at misdirecting expectations and thus making room for big, dramatic reveals. Sometimes, those reveals felt very silly. Other times, I felt that the reveals put you right in the headspace of particular characters in the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Car accident, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Death, Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy, Blood, and Cursing
Moderate: Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, and Cancer
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