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martakdestler's review
2.0
That Not So Short Review — @thatshortwriter on IG
| Recensione in italiano dopo quella in inglese
2.5 ★
Today I want to talk about a book that I couldn’t wait to read. The author, Roni Loren, writes sweet and sad love stories between characters with many and real issues and she’s magnificent while doing it. Third of a triplet of stand-alones, I should have and wanted to love this book with all of myself. I couldn’t believe I had the opportunity to receive an eARC! After reading What if You & Me and wanting to tattoo it in my brain for how good it is, I had high expectations for For You & No One Else. Really high. Expectations that have been disappointed, one after the other.
Let’s start with the few things I liked, namely the style and the way in which mental health is portrayed. The first is smooth, never slow, deep, sometimes funny and sometimes incredibly sad. Regardless of the plot, which at times seems to plod on, the text is very well written. The second is a constant in Roni Loren’s books and she does it with delicacy, realism and without taboos. Seeking help is not a shame, quite the contrary. It is a strength. It’s only for these two aspects that I have not given a one-star review.
But let’s move to the things I disliked, which unfortunately are many. The preconditions were there, but the execution… a little less.
Eliza is a therapist who would need therapy first (she is completely alone, apart from two friends, and her parents died only a few years ago), but which she apparently doesn’t think it necessary to undertake. That’s okay, there’s nothing wrong with not recognising your own limits and demons—it’s easier to focus on those of others, after all. The problem is that she doesn’t behave like a therapist, she doesn’t work like one, she makes choices that she, as a therapist, would never recommend to her clients and, most of all, sometimes she doesn’t recognise people’s problems. This makes me think that if she had been, for example, a teacher, her story would not have had many changes. She finds herself thrown on the internet in a video that sees her very drunk and pissed off at the guy she had a date with and who made her drink without her knowledge to have sex with her against her consent (if I eat a dessert that contains the tiniest amount of alcohol, I would notice it immediately, but oh well… I’m a teetotaler, so I don’t count). She decides to close all her social media channels, to move to analog life for some time and to write a book about her experiment.
"All I’m saying is that you’re not having bad luck on dates because there’s something wrong with you. You’re having a bad time because you’re looking for something real in a system set up for show. You’re looking for a seven-course meal at a fast-food restaurant."
Helping her is Beckham, who works in the complex that houses offices for freelancers, right next to Eliza’s. He is a computer scientist, younger than her, who has a secret that I won’t tell you about so as not to spoil it too much, but which can be summed up as follows: he moved away from someone important to him many years ago but, despite everything, continues to give them importance in the most wrong ways. He may be cool and tattooed, but I found him deadly boring. Also, his backstory is really too much. Too far-fetched. Too heavy. Too much of everything. A bunch of messes that I wouldn’t wish for even to my worst enemy. In addition, a package of this magnitude should have weight and receive special attention, but it gets lost a bit along the way.
I found it difficult to empathise with both of them and didn’t fall in love together with them—in all honesty, I didn’t even care. As far as I’m concerned, they had the chemistry of a table.
There are many scenes where nothing happens and others where I wish what I was reading did not happen. Like evenings for adults without a mobile phone, spent playing games for teenagers. Cringe.
"Honey," Andi said with a little laugh, "a happy ending is the one that makes YOU happy. The hard part is figuring out what that is."
The ending seemed to go in a different direction from that of the usual romance, especially after the couple’s lowest moment, and it suited me just fine. The entire book is a huge faux pas at the institutions that impose us as children, at the ideas of the perfect marriage and how many children we need to have, at the falsity of what we show and see on social media. Something innovative, I thought! But an entire conversation between friends and the overall moral of the book, which seemed to hint just that, were completely thrown into the bin by the time the epilogue came. The fair of banality and clichés, in a book that should be anything but that. Supreme happiness does not necessarily come with a ring on your finger and many children to feed. But oh, well.
It was a huge disappointment and I’m so sorry; but unfortunately this book is not for me.
TW: cyberbullying, mention of loved ones death and suicide, alcoholism, religious obsession, panic attacks, victim blaming.
Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
| ITALIANO
L’autrice, Roni Loren, scrive storie d’amore dolci e malinconiche tra personaggi con tanti e reali problemi e lo fa divinamente. Terzo di una tripletta di autoconclusivi, avrei dovuto e voluto amare questo libro con tutta me stessa. Non potevo credere di avere avuto l’opportunità di ricevere un eARC! Dopo aver letto What if You & Me e aver desiderato di tatuarmelo nel cervello da quanto bello è, avevo grandi aspettative per For You & No One Else. Davvero grandi. Aspettative che sono state deluse, una dopo l’altra.
Partiamo dalle poche cose che sono è piaciuta, ovvero lo stile e il modo in cui la salute mentale viene ritratta. Il primo è scorrevole, mai pesante, profondo, a tratti divertente e a tratti incredibilmente triste. A prescindere dalla trama, che a volte sembra arrancare e stagnarsi, il testo si legge che una meraviglia. Il secondo è una costante nei libri di Roni Loren e lo fa con delicatezza, realismo e senza tabù. Cercare aiuto non è una vergogna, anzi. È una forza. È solo per questi due aspetti che non ho dato una stella.
Ma veniamo alle dolenti note, che purtroppo sono molteplici. Le premesse c’erano, ma l’esecuzione… un po’ meno.
Eliza è una psicologa che avrebbe bisogno di terapia per prima (è completamente sola, a parte due amiche, e i genitori sono morti solo pochi anni prima), ma che a quanto pare non ritiene necessario intraprendere. Che va bene, non c’è niente di male nel non riconoscere i propri limiti e i propri demoni—è più semplice focalizzarsi in quelli degli altri, del resto. Il problema sta nel fatto che non si comporta come una psicologa, non lavora come una psicologa, fa scelte che, da psicologa, non consiglierebbe mai ai suoi clienti e, soprattutto, a volte non si accorge dei problemi altrui. E questo mi fa pensare che se fosse stata, che ne so, un’insegnante, la sua storia non avrebbe avuto poi chissà quali cambiamenti. Si ritrova buttata su internet in un video che la vede parecchio ubriaca e incazzata contro il tizio con cui aveva un appuntamento e che l’ha fatta bere a sua insaputa per portarsela a letto contro la sua volontà (io se mangio un dolce che contiene anche solo una minima quantità di alcol me ne accorgo subito, ma vabbè… io sono astemia, non faccio testo). Decide così di chiudere tutti i suoi canali social, di darsi alla vita analogica per qualche tempo e di scrivere un libro del suo esperimento.
"All I’m saying is that you’re not having bad luck on dates because there’s something wrong with you. You’re having a bad time because you’re looking for something real in a system set up for show. You’re looking for a seven-course meal at a fast-food restaurant."
Ad aiutarla c’è Beckham, che lavora nell’ufficio accanto a quello di Eliza nel complesso per lavoratori freelancer. È un informatico più giovane di lei, che ha un segreto di cui non vi parlo per non spoilerare troppo, ma che si riassume così: si è allontanato da qualcuno molti anni addietro ma, nonostante tutto, continua a dargli importanza nei modi più sbagliati. Sarà anche figo e tatuato, ma l’ho trovato di una noia mortale. La storia del suo passato, poi, è davvero troppo. Troppo inverosimile. Troppo pesante. Troppo tutto. Un’accozzaglia di casini che non augurerei nemmeno al mio peggior nemico. Inoltre, un pacchetto di simile portata dovrebbe avere un peso e ricevere un’attenzione particolare, ma si perde un po’ per strada.
Ho trovato difficile empatizzare con entrambi e non mi sono innamorata con loro—in tutta onestà, nemmeno mi importava. Per quanto mi riguarda avevano la chimica di un tavolo.
Ci sono numerose scene in cui non succede niente e altre in cui avrei voluto non succedesse quello che stavo leggendo. Tipo le serate per adulti senza telefonino, passate a fare giochini per adolescenti.
"Honey," Andi said with a little laugh, "a happy ending is the one that makes YOU happy. The hard part is figuring out what that is."
Il finale sembrava andare in una direzione diversa da quella del solito romance, specie dopo il momento più basso della coppia, e mi andava più che bene. L’intero libro è un grandissimo vaffa alle istituzioni che ci impongono da piccoli, alle idee del matrimonio perfetto e di quanti figli bisogna fare, alla falsità di quello che mostriamo e vediamo nei social media. Qualcosa di innovativo, ho pensato! Ma la conversazione finale tra amiche e tutta la morale del libro stesso, che sembravano suggerire proprio questo, è stata cancellata da quello che succede nell’epilogo. La fiera della banalità e dei luoghi comuni, in un libro che dovrebbe essere tutto fuorché così. Non è detto che la felicità suprema si trovi con un anello al dito e tanti figli da sfamare. Il giorno che leggerò qualcosa di simile sarà un gran bel giorno.
È stata un’enorme delusione e mi dispiace tanto. Ma purtroppo questo libro non fa per me.
TW: cyberbullismo, menzione di morte e suicidio di persone amate, alcolismo passato, ossessione religiosa, attacchi di panico, victim blaming.
Ringrazio Surcebooks Casablanca e NetGalley per avermi permesso di leggerlo in anteprima in cambio di una recensione onesta.
| Recensione in italiano dopo quella in inglese
2.5 ★
Today I want to talk about a book that I couldn’t wait to read. The author, Roni Loren, writes sweet and sad love stories between characters with many and real issues and she’s magnificent while doing it. Third of a triplet of stand-alones, I should have and wanted to love this book with all of myself. I couldn’t believe I had the opportunity to receive an eARC! After reading What if You & Me and wanting to tattoo it in my brain for how good it is, I had high expectations for For You & No One Else. Really high. Expectations that have been disappointed, one after the other.
Let’s start with the few things I liked, namely the style and the way in which mental health is portrayed. The first is smooth, never slow, deep, sometimes funny and sometimes incredibly sad. Regardless of the plot, which at times seems to plod on, the text is very well written. The second is a constant in Roni Loren’s books and she does it with delicacy, realism and without taboos. Seeking help is not a shame, quite the contrary. It is a strength. It’s only for these two aspects that I have not given a one-star review.
But let’s move to the things I disliked, which unfortunately are many. The preconditions were there, but the execution… a little less.
Eliza is a therapist who would need therapy first (she is completely alone, apart from two friends, and her parents died only a few years ago), but which she apparently doesn’t think it necessary to undertake. That’s okay, there’s nothing wrong with not recognising your own limits and demons—it’s easier to focus on those of others, after all. The problem is that she doesn’t behave like a therapist, she doesn’t work like one, she makes choices that she, as a therapist, would never recommend to her clients and, most of all, sometimes she doesn’t recognise people’s problems. This makes me think that if she had been, for example, a teacher, her story would not have had many changes. She finds herself thrown on the internet in a video that sees her very drunk and pissed off at the guy she had a date with and who made her drink without her knowledge to have sex with her against her consent (if I eat a dessert that contains the tiniest amount of alcohol, I would notice it immediately, but oh well… I’m a teetotaler, so I don’t count). She decides to close all her social media channels, to move to analog life for some time and to write a book about her experiment.
"All I’m saying is that you’re not having bad luck on dates because there’s something wrong with you. You’re having a bad time because you’re looking for something real in a system set up for show. You’re looking for a seven-course meal at a fast-food restaurant."
Helping her is Beckham, who works in the complex that houses offices for freelancers, right next to Eliza’s. He is a computer scientist, younger than her, who has a secret that I won’t tell you about so as not to spoil it too much, but which can be summed up as follows: he moved away from someone important to him many years ago but, despite everything, continues to give them importance in the most wrong ways. He may be cool and tattooed, but I found him deadly boring. Also, his backstory is really too much. Too far-fetched. Too heavy. Too much of everything. A bunch of messes that I wouldn’t wish for even to my worst enemy. In addition, a package of this magnitude should have weight and receive special attention, but it gets lost a bit along the way.
I found it difficult to empathise with both of them and didn’t fall in love together with them—in all honesty, I didn’t even care. As far as I’m concerned, they had the chemistry of a table.
There are many scenes where nothing happens and others where I wish what I was reading did not happen. Like evenings for adults without a mobile phone, spent playing games for teenagers. Cringe.
"Honey," Andi said with a little laugh, "a happy ending is the one that makes YOU happy. The hard part is figuring out what that is."
The ending seemed to go in a different direction from that of the usual romance, especially after the couple’s lowest moment, and it suited me just fine. The entire book is a huge faux pas at the institutions that impose us as children, at the ideas of the perfect marriage and how many children we need to have, at the falsity of what we show and see on social media. Something innovative, I thought! But an entire conversation between friends and the overall moral of the book, which seemed to hint just that, were completely thrown into the bin by the time the epilogue came. The fair of banality and clichés, in a book that should be anything but that. Supreme happiness does not necessarily come with a ring on your finger and many children to feed. But oh, well.
It was a huge disappointment and I’m so sorry; but unfortunately this book is not for me.
TW: cyberbullying, mention of loved ones death and suicide, alcoholism, religious obsession, panic attacks, victim blaming.
Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
| ITALIANO
L’autrice, Roni Loren, scrive storie d’amore dolci e malinconiche tra personaggi con tanti e reali problemi e lo fa divinamente. Terzo di una tripletta di autoconclusivi, avrei dovuto e voluto amare questo libro con tutta me stessa. Non potevo credere di avere avuto l’opportunità di ricevere un eARC! Dopo aver letto What if You & Me e aver desiderato di tatuarmelo nel cervello da quanto bello è, avevo grandi aspettative per For You & No One Else. Davvero grandi. Aspettative che sono state deluse, una dopo l’altra.
Partiamo dalle poche cose che sono è piaciuta, ovvero lo stile e il modo in cui la salute mentale viene ritratta. Il primo è scorrevole, mai pesante, profondo, a tratti divertente e a tratti incredibilmente triste. A prescindere dalla trama, che a volte sembra arrancare e stagnarsi, il testo si legge che una meraviglia. Il secondo è una costante nei libri di Roni Loren e lo fa con delicatezza, realismo e senza tabù. Cercare aiuto non è una vergogna, anzi. È una forza. È solo per questi due aspetti che non ho dato una stella.
Ma veniamo alle dolenti note, che purtroppo sono molteplici. Le premesse c’erano, ma l’esecuzione… un po’ meno.
Eliza è una psicologa che avrebbe bisogno di terapia per prima (è completamente sola, a parte due amiche, e i genitori sono morti solo pochi anni prima), ma che a quanto pare non ritiene necessario intraprendere. Che va bene, non c’è niente di male nel non riconoscere i propri limiti e i propri demoni—è più semplice focalizzarsi in quelli degli altri, del resto. Il problema sta nel fatto che non si comporta come una psicologa, non lavora come una psicologa, fa scelte che, da psicologa, non consiglierebbe mai ai suoi clienti e, soprattutto, a volte non si accorge dei problemi altrui. E questo mi fa pensare che se fosse stata, che ne so, un’insegnante, la sua storia non avrebbe avuto poi chissà quali cambiamenti. Si ritrova buttata su internet in un video che la vede parecchio ubriaca e incazzata contro il tizio con cui aveva un appuntamento e che l’ha fatta bere a sua insaputa per portarsela a letto contro la sua volontà (io se mangio un dolce che contiene anche solo una minima quantità di alcol me ne accorgo subito, ma vabbè… io sono astemia, non faccio testo). Decide così di chiudere tutti i suoi canali social, di darsi alla vita analogica per qualche tempo e di scrivere un libro del suo esperimento.
"All I’m saying is that you’re not having bad luck on dates because there’s something wrong with you. You’re having a bad time because you’re looking for something real in a system set up for show. You’re looking for a seven-course meal at a fast-food restaurant."
Ad aiutarla c’è Beckham, che lavora nell’ufficio accanto a quello di Eliza nel complesso per lavoratori freelancer. È un informatico più giovane di lei, che ha un segreto di cui non vi parlo per non spoilerare troppo, ma che si riassume così: si è allontanato da qualcuno molti anni addietro ma, nonostante tutto, continua a dargli importanza nei modi più sbagliati. Sarà anche figo e tatuato, ma l’ho trovato di una noia mortale. La storia del suo passato, poi, è davvero troppo. Troppo inverosimile. Troppo pesante. Troppo tutto. Un’accozzaglia di casini che non augurerei nemmeno al mio peggior nemico. Inoltre, un pacchetto di simile portata dovrebbe avere un peso e ricevere un’attenzione particolare, ma si perde un po’ per strada.
Ho trovato difficile empatizzare con entrambi e non mi sono innamorata con loro—in tutta onestà, nemmeno mi importava. Per quanto mi riguarda avevano la chimica di un tavolo.
Ci sono numerose scene in cui non succede niente e altre in cui avrei voluto non succedesse quello che stavo leggendo. Tipo le serate per adulti senza telefonino, passate a fare giochini per adolescenti.
"Honey," Andi said with a little laugh, "a happy ending is the one that makes YOU happy. The hard part is figuring out what that is."
Il finale sembrava andare in una direzione diversa da quella del solito romance, specie dopo il momento più basso della coppia, e mi andava più che bene. L’intero libro è un grandissimo vaffa alle istituzioni che ci impongono da piccoli, alle idee del matrimonio perfetto e di quanti figli bisogna fare, alla falsità di quello che mostriamo e vediamo nei social media. Qualcosa di innovativo, ho pensato! Ma la conversazione finale tra amiche e tutta la morale del libro stesso, che sembravano suggerire proprio questo, è stata cancellata da quello che succede nell’epilogo. La fiera della banalità e dei luoghi comuni, in un libro che dovrebbe essere tutto fuorché così. Non è detto che la felicità suprema si trovi con un anello al dito e tanti figli da sfamare. Il giorno che leggerò qualcosa di simile sarà un gran bel giorno.
È stata un’enorme delusione e mi dispiace tanto. Ma purtroppo questo libro non fa per me.
TW: cyberbullismo, menzione di morte e suicidio di persone amate, alcolismo passato, ossessione religiosa, attacchi di panico, victim blaming.
Ringrazio Surcebooks Casablanca e NetGalley per avermi permesso di leggerlo in anteprima in cambio di una recensione onesta.
denveryazzy's review against another edition
I wanted to like this but I’m just not into age gaps anymore especially reverse where the woman is older. In fact I find I would have probably liked this book immensely had both of these people been the same age or even if it was a year or 2 in difference rather than 7.
cobaltbookshelf's review against another edition
3.0
This was good friends to lovers story. It had sweet and heartfelt moments, funny moments, and overall entertained me. In regards to the romance, I thought the build-up was so cute. Eliza and Beck are my favorite couples in this series and I enjoyed their chemistry.
If you're looking for a work-place romance with age gap, pick up For You & No One Else.
Special thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca, for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
If you're looking for a work-place romance with age gap, pick up For You & No One Else.
Special thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca, for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
gabbyslittlelibrary's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
4.0
It had to be you… 💕
suzyq436's review against another edition
5.0
Oh I loved this!
Much better than the second one.
The chemistry between these two was great and I loved the story all around.
Much better than the second one.
The chemistry between these two was great and I loved the story all around.
jsas13's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
3.25
Audible. Wasted a credit on this one. Didn’t love. Had to force myself to finish.
jullecomer's review against another edition
4.0
I always love her books and this one was really good! I like that each of these were connected but were still very different and had its own unique voice. Some interconnected series rely on the same theme the entire time, but this series has unique books
theeuphoriczat's review against another edition
5.0
Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca for making this book available to me via #Netgalley.
.
I really loved the previous book in the Say Everything series and this one was no exception. The way Roni Loren is able to interweave life lessons into every book she writes is just out of this world.
In this book we follow Eliza who just cannot seem to find the perfect guy for herself. Her being a therapist makes it easier for her to see a lot of read flags in men and also her using her knowledge to provide therapeutic tips on her Youtube channel. That is, until she decides on a whim to go on a date with a man she meets on a dating site. She ends the night going viral after the guy records her losing her shit after he tried to take her back to his place while she was drunk.
.
With her going viral on the internet, her clients start to cancel their session and the only person that she can go to for help is her office partner Beck Carter. Beck is a computer whiz that uses the office next to hers, they have only spoken about twice and she is definitely attracted to him. However, because he is younger than her, she believes that he would not be interested in a relationship. Anyways he helps her take down the video from the sites it had been posted on but as you can except the damage had been done.
.
He advices that she finds herself a relationship in the real world by meeting real people. This where the story gets very juicy, 'NOT TO SPOIL IT THOUGH', we get to see Beck's past with his super religious family. This book provided great insight into the effects of organised religion, puritanical beliefs, social media and television on relationships, especially when a child grows up around this kind of influence.
.
I really loved the previous book in the Say Everything series and this one was no exception. The way Roni Loren is able to interweave life lessons into every book she writes is just out of this world.
In this book we follow Eliza who just cannot seem to find the perfect guy for herself. Her being a therapist makes it easier for her to see a lot of read flags in men and also her using her knowledge to provide therapeutic tips on her Youtube channel. That is, until she decides on a whim to go on a date with a man she meets on a dating site. She ends the night going viral after the guy records her losing her shit after he tried to take her back to his place while she was drunk.
.
With her going viral on the internet, her clients start to cancel their session and the only person that she can go to for help is her office partner Beck Carter. Beck is a computer whiz that uses the office next to hers, they have only spoken about twice and she is definitely attracted to him. However, because he is younger than her, she believes that he would not be interested in a relationship. Anyways he helps her take down the video from the sites it had been posted on but as you can except the damage had been done.
.
He advices that she finds herself a relationship in the real world by meeting real people. This where the story gets very juicy, 'NOT TO SPOIL IT THOUGH', we get to see Beck's past with his super religious family. This book provided great insight into the effects of organised religion, puritanical beliefs, social media and television on relationships, especially when a child grows up around this kind of influence.
jacs81's review against another edition
Something about it rubbed me the wrong way.