Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Fangirl Down

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey

10 reviews

kingrosereads's review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

I’m getting tired of these MMCs that toss around casual toxic masculinity. “Champagne is for women”. Like seriously? And this man is way too controlling. This grown woman can’t walk around the golf club without him glued to her side? Get so for real. And this man isn’t a grump, he needs straight up therapy not a woman to fix him. I mean yeah it was sad that his parents dipped out of his life but he’s a grown man that is ruining his own career. It’s not as if he’s going through a trauma or an injury, he just realized he’s not the special little golf boy in the world of professionals. Sure it was a dick move that his mentor dropped him when he wasn’t killing the game, but that’s not an excuse to become an alcoholic dick and blame everyone else for his problems. Again: this man needs therapy. He had all the means to build an actual support system and instead puts his improvement on Josephine. The man couldn’t act like a human being for ONE DAY without her. It’s so reminiscent of wives who can’t go out with her friends for an hour without her husband texting her about the location of household items or their children’s medication. Like you’re a grown man? You can’t just be professional for a day? How is this attractive? I know the entire system is against men being vulnerable and seeking help for mental health, but at some point you’ve gotta advocate for yourself and grow the fuck up. He also hung up on her best friend who’s in Antarctica and their communication is extremely limited. I don’t care that he “made up for it” (and please this book grossly overhypes the importance and influence a pro golfer has). And don’t get me started on this man’s dirty talk. I’m still recovering from the cringe. He’s so irritating and oblivious to just everything. “Breaking news: Man discovers how unfair media is to women” *eye roll* Wells is just not it.

And now Josephine. Whose entire personality is sex, Wells, and diabetes. She is truly annoying as a FMC. While I’m all for a woman making her own decisions regardless if they’re right or not, I cannot condone any of her choices. Apparently, she’s worried about her diabetes yet she forgoes insurance and she spends hundreds of dollars to go cheer on some has-been instead of having money for insulin? Or that she doesn’t have flood insurance in Florida because she can’t afford her medication? If Josephine isn’t thinking about Wells she’s obsessively monologuing her diabetic journey. Which is a shame cause I liked the idea of the representation, it just felt like every five minutes the author was going “oh btw I have diabetes” and “omg did you forget? I have diabetes” instead of it just being a natural incorporation. Additionally, Josephine’s extremely worried about being taken seriously as a golf caddy and proving her worth, yet she’s using sexual favors to encourage him to perform better. Are you kidding me? I’m all for sex work, but let’s call this what it is: a sexual transaction. The woman is getting a cut of his winnings and makes more money the better he plays. I don’t care that they spend a page trying to explain this away and convince the reader that he’s actually doing better per her advice when everything else suggests otherwise. Also, where’s the chemistry between these people? Josephine is liking Wells the more she gets to know him? Know him? How? Because the man doesn’t talk and he doesn’t like to answer questions. Their entire relationship is just sex and unbalanced power dynamics. Not to mention the couple’s “complication” that pulls them apart before the epic reunion at the end, was so ridiculous and childish. In no way was it that deep?

While tossing one salad isn’t a remote interest of mine, I’m not going to rate this book poorly based on that act. I’m sure someone read that scene and went “I feel seen” since ass play rarely makes these kinds of books. And truly, isn’t that what matters. Regardless, this book was ass without the salad tossing. If anything, it was the most interesting thing that happened in this book.

I keep trying with sport romances and even more with Tessa Bailey’s books but it’s just not working. While I have no issues with masculine MMCs, I cannot understand that she consistently has to write masculinity as being anti-feminine. You can be masculine without being like “lotion is for chicks” or “I’d rather die than let people know I like fruity drinks. I’m a man’s man and I drink beer and scotch.” or “I must protect this grown, capable, professional woman from her own shadow, no way could she ever survive without a strong man”. Give me a break.

I’m literally only giving stars for some of the spicy scenes and because of how cute and funny the scene with Lissa was.

Content Warnings

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

5.0

Josephine is Wells Whittaker’s biggest fan even though his golf game has not been what it used to be, she won’t desert him, until he decides to quit and push her away. After a hurricane comes through and destroys her family’s shop, he finds himself wanting to win her back. Since she won’t just take his money, he hires her as his caddy. So now all he has to do is win again so that she gets her share of the prize money and can live her dreams. Because after being such a jerk to her, he just wants to make her dreams come true.

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henriettaenam's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

4.75

Definitely a sweet story
And totally recommend . Thanks to Libro.fm and harper audio for me ALC
I loved the two MCs
I loved his growth together with her ; sweet and beautiful and inspiring

I was wondering about all those metaphors though 😹
How do people come up with these stuff ?

Content Warnings

macykey's review

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funny 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? Yes

4.0

I love a good grumpy sunshine! I’m also a fan of a man who will literally cannot contain how much he loves his woman. The only nitpicky thing I have to say is that Josephine seemed like an almost too perfect character. I didn’t detect any character flaws at all. Other than that, quick lighthearted read!

Content Warnings

alexasolis98's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-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

It was an enjoyable lighthearted read. I don't understand much of golf so certain things flew over my head. However, I don't think it took away from the story. The characters were funny and it was nice to see them grow, especially Wells.

The rebuilding of a shop in two-three weeks was unrealistic as hell but fiction, I guess.

Content Warnings

vaguelyredhead's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

ms_elchert's review

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emotional funny 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

4.0

Content Warnings

beckyyreadss's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-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

5.0

I wanted to read this book because anything that Tessa Bailey writes, I’ll read. It’s simple as that. Tessa Bailey was my top read author was 2023 and I instantly re-ordered both books in the series and I was waiting for this since the new year.

This book has two points of view. The first point of view is Wells Whitaker. He was once golf’s hottest rising start, but lately, all he has to show for his promising career is a killer hangover, a collection of broken clubs and one remaining supporter. No matter how bad he plays, the beautiful redhead is always on the sidelines. He curses, he cheers. He scowls, she smiles. But when Wells quits in a blaze of glory and his fangirl finally goes home, he knows he made the greatest mistake of his life. The second point of view is Josephine Doyle, and she has believed in this gorgeous and grumpy golfer, even when he didn’t believe in himself. Yet after he throws in the towel, she begins to winder if her faith was misplaced. After a hurricane wrecks her family’s golf store, she is feeling hopeless, until a determined Wells shows up at her door with a wild proposal - be his new caddy, help him turn his game around and split the prize money. And considering how much her life is in shambles, she could really use the money.as they travel together, spending days on the green and nights in neighbouring hotel rooms, sparks fly. Before long, they’re inseparable, Wells starts winning again, and Josephine is surprised to find a sweet, thoughtful guy underneath his gruff exterior. The hot man wants to brush her hair, make sure her blood sugar is okay and take bubble baths together? Is this real life? But Wells is technically her boss and an athlete falling for his fangirl would be ridiculous . . . right?

I love this book. It was amazing and had me hooked from the start. I love sports romance and I never thought I could love a golf romance, but I did. I never even watched golf. I love the whole opposite attract – she's all sunshine and he’s grumpy and possessive and wants to kill everyone for looking at her the wrong way – it was done brilliantly. I loved the character development that both of these characters go through. Wells went from not giving shit and just wanting to drink himself to death to wanting to live and wanting to win and wanting to help people and be kind. Josephine went from this shy girl who loved to follow Wells and not having money for her health or her store to being able to be this confident woman who knows what she wants and to have enough money to look after herself. I love that both were fully denying their relationships and then Wells was just thinking about her all the time and then Josephine had painted her nails to match his uniform like damn you both knew what you were doing. The way that these two were winding each other and giving each other incentives to do well and then it worked. I was cackling so hard at some of these chapters.

I don’t have anything to hate about this book, I was sat in work thinking about this book, I was sat at home thinking about this book. The book was living in my brain rent-free, completely. Like I’m not going to shut up about this book for a while.

I’m so excited for the next book in this series but I might need to read another Tessa Bailey before the summer.

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devynreadsnovels's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

hdabru's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

This was really enjoyable. Tessa Bailey is sometimes hit or miss for me, but this was solid. I don’t usually do sports romance but I enjoyed the aspects of it that were related to golf, especially because Josephine was clearly portrayed as a powerhouse in the sport in her own right. And loving it for its role in her life and not just because she’s a fan of a golf player.

I also appreciate how Bailey’s main characters get more and more mature. I think some of her earlier works were criticized for being a little misogynistic, but each book I’ve read since It Happened One Summer shows that she sees that her readers want healthy relationships and mature characters. Or rather, characters that grow and make the right choices, and help each other to be better without fixing each other.

I found the third act breakup to be a little contrived, but it was redeemed for me by the characters coming to intelligent, mature conclusions about themselves and their relationship through introspection. And supporting characters.

I also enjoyed how writing a heroine with T1D was in honor of her daughter, and showing how those who have to deal with a faulty pancreas can and do live lives of fullness and normalcy.

As always, Bailey’s work is full of spice and dirty talk. If that’s not your thing, you’ve been warned. If it is, you’ve been informed.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

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