Reviews

Birds of California: A Novel by Katie Cotugno

jamierobb's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-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

3.75

alison_marie's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

4.25

breeprocopio's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

threegoodrats's review against another edition

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3.0

Cute! I liked the main character and really appreciated that she EATS FOOD. I'm tired of female characters who are always forgetting to eat, or are a little upset and therefore can't eat, etc. Fiona is constantly hungry and wanting to go out for waffles, etc. I like her! The love interest guy is kind of a tool, but in a dumb way not a jerk way.

spinesnlines's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective

4.0

katyhann's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful fast-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

4.0

laura_bell's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

afgrammer's review against another edition

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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

3.0

jmalone3's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

kaulhilo's review against another edition

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2.0

(2.5/5)
this was really nice? an excostars-to-lovers romance, the synopsis describing it “in the spirit of beach read”, which i'll admit was the biggest reason i was interested in the book in the first place. i didn't have extremely high expectations, but well. you never start a book hoping it'll suck, right?
i think the book had a pretty solid concept - the plot was very well planned, but the execution failed to stand up to itself. i did not like how it was penned; the writing seemed very odd at times, bordering detached and impersonal. for a book vying into depression and power imbalance and probable abuse, it never delved into any of those considerably heavyweight topics, instead just roughly mentioning them once or twice and then ignoring them altogether. as a consequence, i never felt particularly attached to any of the characters - i didn't know them. i definitely think this book would've thrived, if it had been a bit longer, if the characters were perhaps slightly more nuanced. as it was, i didn't feel connected to them, or their situations. some of it, i think, falls victim to how i just couldn't get into the writing style, but most of it was because the book itself felt superficial.
*and then there was this random taylor swift mention wrt dating rumors, which is like. okay? but then also it's 2022, can we please move on?
anyway. thank you to harper perennial for the arc.