Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - 40-Love

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

40-Love by Olivia Dade

13 reviews

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Olivia Dade is fast becoming my favourite author! My number one read author of 2023.

Her characters break the mould of what MCs “should be” and they never disappoint.

This story was about unexpectedly finding love, an age gap, and the pairing of a plus sized body with an athlete. The MFC and MMC both struggle with chronic pain and their empathy for one another warmed my heart. MFC was very vocal about hating mess (like being sweaty) and MMC was happy to shower for her comfort. It got super steamy quite a few times.

I cannot recommend Dade’s novels enough.

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bookishmillennial's review

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funny lighthearted reflective 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? No

disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews, I feel like a peasant and don’t like leaving them and most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

premise:

contemporary fictional romcom
second book in an interconnected series of standalone romances
told in third-person limited POV
Tess Dunn, 40-year-old aspiring principal of Marysburg High School, goes on vacation to an island (can't remember which one, sorry lol) with her best friend, Belle, who moved to Chicago recently
She runs into 26-year-old Swedish tennis player, Lucas Karlsson, as he helps cover her and get a towel when a wave takes off her bikini top in the ocean (lmao only in romcoms, amirite!?)
She has no idea he was a former pro-tennis player and Belle sneakily signs Tess up for nightly 1:1 lessons with Lucas for the two weeks they are on vacation
Tess has chronic knee pain, while Lucas has post-surgery struggles with his wrist; they connect beyond a vacation summer fling, even though Tess adamantly tries to deny their chemistry
tropes: grumpy x sunshine, opposites attract, summer romance, instalove, age gap
cw: fatphobia, diet culture, infidelity, sexual content, gaslighting, toxic relationship, ageism
steam: 3/5

thoughts:
I am *not* an instalove honey. However, I had a lot of fun with this one! Tess & Lucas were both such sweet characters that I couldn't help but root for. They are pretty much the epitome of "when you know, you know!" and I'm not mad at them for it!

Besides the romance, I loved the topics that Lucas and Tess discussed:

ageism: I think people forget about how deeply seeded our biases are about age, especially those who are younger. When we talk about the -isms, I feel like I don't see as many people talk about this, and of course, I am privileged to be 31-years-old but I remember the ageism I experienced as a teenager up until a few years ago, and sometimes, even now because I "look young". I know I will experience it again at its height when I'm in my retiring age (crossing my fingers I make it that far<3). Sure, there are absolutely some young kids and new adults who are absolutely horrible and represent their age groups terribly. However, I loved that Lucas called Tess out for her ageism, as she was judging him and was completely off base! Her lived experience with her ex was valid, but she shouldn't have projected that onto everyone 20-something within her proximity.
body neutrality: I recently struggled with another book that did not mindfully tackle body image issues, fatphobia, and diet culture. However, I think Olivia Dade did a beautiful job of illustrating what body neutrality sounds and looks like as Tess talked about her body and her health.

"From what he could tell, she hadn't used the word fat as a pejorative. There had been no venom in the adjective, no bitterness or sadness, no implicit plea for his denial. It had served only as a descriptor, rather than a sign of self-loathing. Matter of fact. Value-neutral.

And he wasn't going to protest that she wasn't fat. They both knew better. Contradicting that would be patronizing as hell, insulting in its own way. More importantly, protesting might imply that being fat was somehow bad. Somehow the worst thing she could be, rather than merely one aspect of a complex, fascinating woman."

Overall, this was a fluffy romcom with steamy scenes (literally still thinking about the steamy scene in the shower asdakjdhaksdhgahgsd) and Lucas is the king of emotional and physical aftercare. A Swedish, goofy king. No choice but to stan!!!!

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bzliz's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Another cute romantic comedy from Olivia Dade never fails to make me smile.

Is it groundbreaking literature? No
Does anyone actually talk like that in real life? No
Do the characters get boiled down to just a few personality traits and too much time is spent rehashing the same insecurities multiple times in the same conversation? Maybe
Did it make my heart happy to read a cute little tennis romance story? Yes

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le3713's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I really enjoyed this book, it was cute, funny, and sweet, I loved the big girl rep, as well as the partly-disabled and older female MC. It had both hilarious moments and heartfelt ones too. Overall a very fun book.

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hazelgirl21's review

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emotional funny 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

3.75

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the_vegan_bookworm's review

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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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book, the romance and the characters throughout! Easily one of my favourites by Olivia Dade.

Some reviews complain about the way the age gap is brought up constantly by Tess, which I can understand, but I felt that it revealed a lot about Tess' self-perception. I also appreciate that it is addressed fairly early on in the book.

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this_momma_is_booked's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The second book in Olivia Dade's There's Something About Marysburg series actually had very little to do with Marysburg! In this installment, Assistant Principal Tess is taking a much-needed vacation to a tropical island off the coast of Florida with her best friend (and former colleague) Belle. While there, she has a mishap in the ocean that results in her losing her swimsuit top (a true fear for us big-chested humans) and this leads her to meeting Lucas, a retired professional tennis player who is now the tennis instructor at the resort where Tess is staying.

In terms of meet-cutes, this one is definitely unique and I loved every minute of it! I appreciated Tess's embarrassment when she lost her bikini top - but what's truly important is that her embarrassment had nothing to do with her body and its shape (read: she's a plus sized gal and loves it!) and everything to do with the simple fact that she found herself topless on a family beach and, being an educator, there might be serious repercussions for that!

I love Olivia Dade for writing characters that have my body type. I love her for writing characters that have the confidence in that body that I hope to one day have. I love her for writing characters that are shamelessly in love with themselves and know that they are worthy of being loved and valued and lusted after. I also love her for writing love interests that have no issue with dirty talk, but that's a whole other conversation. I also appreciate that in her books, the love interests are the ones that usually have some unlearning to do, not the MC. There's also rarely any charged language regarding the character's body type and, when there is, it is very quickly shut down.

I do wish that there were more diversity included in these books, both in ethnicity and sexuality. Plus, I would love to see a different kind of love interest for our voluptuous heroines (while men with six packs are great, so are men that don't have them). I feel like perhaps having two plus-sized MCs would add layers that we have yet to see in mainstream romance.

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zabeishumanish's review against another edition

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4.0

I quite nearly DNF’d the book less than a quarter of the way in, so be warned the book starts slow. Both of these characters are incredibly stubborn and so closed off I didn’t see how they could possibly make to a HEA. I’m glad I stuck it out, all I can say is Olivia Dade has serious talent to get the two of them to healthily loving conclusion.

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jen_sometimes's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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