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theotterside's review
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Infidelity, Drug use, and Death of parent
Minor: Car accident, Racism, Misogyny, and Homophobia
expecto_padronum's review against another edition
3.25
The main character’s trust issues and all the cheating were a little over the top, and the political parts were a bit unbelievable to me. She swayed lots of people with logic way too fast when we all know that doesn’t usually work. But it was cute!
siakou's review
1.0
The only thing keeping me from DNFing this was the writing. It was extremely fast paced, readable. But that’s the only highlight that doesn’t save the whole book from being ultimately horrible.
Not a single person in here is likeable with the main character being the worst of them all.
I don’t like reading about how "adults" are "coping" with partying, heavy drinking and using drugs while miraculously holding high profile public jobs.
I don’t like reading soooo many excuses about cheaters who are also humans that just made a mistake in a so called romance book.
I don’t like people who are not able to stay in place and fix their issues and they just chose to vanish off the face of the earth instead but think it’s pretty okay to come back like nothing happened.
I don’t like anyone who thinks it’s okay to keep a relationship as a way to feel "surface level happy”.
And I don’t like politics, politicians, corruption and everything that comes with that career.
So you see my point, there was nothing to like in this.
Not a single person in here is likeable with the main character being the worst of them all.
I don’t like reading about how "adults" are "coping" with partying, heavy drinking and using drugs while miraculously holding high profile public jobs.
I don’t like reading soooo many excuses about cheaters who are also humans that just made a mistake in a so called romance book.
I don’t like people who are not able to stay in place and fix their issues and they just chose to vanish off the face of the earth instead but think it’s pretty okay to come back like nothing happened.
I don’t like anyone who thinks it’s okay to keep a relationship as a way to feel "surface level happy”.
And I don’t like politics, politicians, corruption and everything that comes with that career.
So you see my point, there was nothing to like in this.
stepharina's review
3.0
I chose this book because of its cover and back in April it had a lot of attention here on Bookstagram. This book was okay, I went in blind and the political themes while done well was not something I would have chosen to read because it’s shoved down our throats every day the past few years. This was a fictional political story line and was not aimed to undercut any personal views which was great I just use reading to escape so it’s not a theme I would have chosen for myself. The love story is cute but nothing extraordinary and it I took issue with the MC’s way of thinking which drove me CRAZY! Anyways the book was cute but not anything I had big feelings about or cared what happened to the characters. There were however some laugh out loud moments I appreciated!
sharniandbooks's review against another edition
2.0
I think I am perhaps discovering that cheating in books is not for me?
I saw a few of my friends/people I follow rating this book highly, so I was excited to get into it. I liked the idea of following someone with a bit of a different job to a lot of other books (how many books have we all read where the main character was an author, librarian or worked in a book shop?) So I was excited to switch things up a bit as our main character in Fool Me Once is a communications director at an electric car company and is trying to get a clean energy bill rolling. Not a lot of books I have read have had this type of storyline, so that was something I was interested in (despite knowing nothing about how politics/bills work and being lost a little haha). But there were some great discussions about the people who are in positions of power such as this quote:
I saw a few of my friends/people I follow rating this book highly, so I was excited to get into it. I liked the idea of following someone with a bit of a different job to a lot of other books (how many books have we all read where the main character was an author, librarian or worked in a book shop?) So I was excited to switch things up a bit as our main character in Fool Me Once is a communications director at an electric car company and is trying to get a clean energy bill rolling. Not a lot of books I have read have had this type of storyline, so that was something I was interested in (despite knowing nothing about how politics/bills work and being lost a little haha). But there were some great discussions about the people who are in positions of power such as this quote:
“I want a future where we’ve dismantled systemic sexism and racism and every other bias that keeps cis straight white men in charge of society and everyone else under their heels. I want innovation and competition and strong safety nets. I want to celebrate autonomy and recognize the fact that we’re all hopelessly bound together, whether we like it or not.” I paused. There was plenty more, but I tried to read the proverbial room. In my experience, telling older white men you wanted to level out their power didn’t often go over well. Neither did using the word cis.
There were lot's of points made throughout the book about the double standards when it comes to sexism. Some of this was to do with cheating (this book had a lot of it), such as a male Politian cheating on their spouse and no one batting an eye, but if a female did it, she would not be met with the same reaction. While I appreciate this discussion, as I said, there was quite a lot of cheating happening within the book, and I just don't think that is a storyline that I enjoy as it made it hard for me to root for the main character.
I do enjoy a messy main character, and Lee was certainly that, but I just couldn't fully get on board with her line of thinking when it came to the cheating. The main character also punched someone in the face because of something they said, and to be honest, I also don't love that. Let's not normalise punching people.
While this book was not for me, I hope it falls into the hands of those that will love it! So if you enjoy a book with a fun, messy main character, a second chance romance, and a woman standing up to old white men in power...this one is for you.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc for review.
emilia_pearl's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
3.5
emilychau's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
hey_yall's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
This book started of slow and I wasn’t sure where it was going, but it had me giggling and hopeful by the end. I found Stoner’s inner dialogue humorous.