helfire124's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer and Medical trauma
Minor: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Terminal illness, Violence, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Mental illness
jazzseeks's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I am not a fan of contemporary romance usually but this is certainly the best one I've ever read. What I really loved was how relatable the Main Character was as a woman with Autism and how much <Michael loved her for the ways she was unique and not inspite of who she is>. I found the romance believable, funny, and deeply enjoyable. <Michaels family is lovely.> The only things I didn't like were how horrible a lot of the tertiary characters were such as the parents, the coworkers, the ex clients. Those parts were painful to get through and didn't always feel vital to the story or characters development. Also Helen Hoang is really pro-capitalist and I'm never into that though I enjoyed flipping the trope so that the Woman had the money.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Ableism, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Classism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Cancer, Violence, Vomit, Infidelity, Chronic illness, and Stalking
Pressure to have children, pressure to marry, comment about character looking "barely legal" , comment about "having nipples men and babies dream of"mehezz's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Vomit
toofondofbooks_'s review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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
4.5
I thought this was for the most part a solid romance that had me swooning and laughing and sometimes crying throughout. It was so heartfelt! It was not only so nice to see an autistic leading lady, but to know that said leading lady was written by an autistic author just made me so happy. Stella jumps off the page and I can see how her character resonates with so many women on the autism spectrum. The only time I ran into trouble with this book was when it began having the tendency to lean a little too hard into the miscommunication trope. If it made a single appearance, I maybe would have been able to look past it, but it was kind of all over the place and coming up a lot. Overall though, I did love this book and I think if you want to read a unique romance novel with an autistic heroine, this is the one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Fatphobia, Classism, Abandonment, Ableism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Vomit, Cancer, Violence, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape and Stalking
marianneiriss's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Stalking, Vomit, Classism, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Terminal illness
taylorsevalia's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
tense
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Abandonment, Cursing, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Pedophilia and Vomit
froggybex's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Erotica isn’t really my normal read (since the teenage fanfic years) so I struggled a bit with the writing and what metaphors were being used lol. I really enjoyed the story and was hooked by the end.
I am an autistic fem presenting person so here’s my takes:
I am an autistic fem presenting person so here’s my takes:
- “asperger’s” is the outdated term. this is brought up in the author notes at the end but has “high functioning” which is also an outdated term.
- does this enhance the neurotypical ideology that disabled people are angelic/innocent and are so clueless about sex? i know the entire premise is autistic woman has sex but the lesson format and the fact she pays for sex might feed into this ideology that disabled people aren’t capable of having sex/relationships without paying for the service, when that is not the case majority of the time.
Aside from those points, i really enjoyed this book and the autistic representation. I found a lot of myself in Stella and i loved how consent was shown throughout the book. Also, i loved (nearly) all the characters :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Ableism
Minor: Vomit
shadereads's review against another edition
emotional
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
Maybe a little too spicy for me at times, I'd personally like a higher fluff to smut ratio with a bit more slow burn romance, but I loved reading a book with an autistic lead. There aren't too many of those, and to read it from an author who is also on the spectrum was really exciting. This kind of representation is important to me, so I'm definitely going to at least look into the second book in this universe and see where that leads me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Vomit
sausages416's review
emotional
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
literally a new favorite contemporary romance. im not autistic, but it was cool to see a person with autism written by a person with autism. aside from that, i really enjoyed seeing these two interact, she is super endearing and funny and he is so sweet and thoughtful. it is a dual pov book so we get the pleasure of seeing both of their thoughts throughout the book. there is a lot of sex, written excellently, but i liked that even though it was a big part, it wasn’t the biggest focus of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Vomit and Sexual harassment
booknerdnative's review
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit