mikelandbeforetime's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Dementia
Minor: Suicide attempt
marleywrites's review against another edition
- 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
I adored the side characters of this book. They were great supports for the story and kept the pace moving. All the scenes with the Seasons folks were hilarious. I loved the best friend characters.
This book was, on one hand, light hearted and fun. On the other, it also dealt realistically with working in an industry that’s toxic, an industry that takes more than it gives, and what it’s like to love someone with dementia. It was very much “the highs were high and the lows were low.”
I listened to this book on audiobook and I am loving the hype for it. I’m so glad people are falling in love with audiobooks because of this story! The author/narrator was incredible. What a performance!
I rated this four stars, because some parts of it I didn’t fully resonance with, but it’s more of a personal thing. The parts I liked, I really loved, and I hope that others enjoy this story with great disability representation as well.
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Alcohol, and Dementia
Moderate: Medical trauma, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Cursing, and Death
Minor: Blood and Alcoholism
atamano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Dementia, Ableism, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Racism, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity, Addiction, and Death of parent
eligru's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Dementia, Medical content, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
Minor: Drug abuse
cady_sass's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Dementia, Sexual content, Racism, Suicide, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Self harm, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Drug use, and Suicide attempt
dani_reviews's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Addiction and Blood
em184's review against another edition
- 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
I can confirm I love the storyline and writing as well as the narration. This book was so funny, had me laughing out loud from the get go. It also was very raw and emotional at times as well.
I previously said that this was a masterclass in narration as I'm truly not sure how one person could do so many different voices/characters/accents and do all of them well. It blew me away, like it's actually insane
Desperately need more people to listen to this and rave about it cos I really don't see it spoken about enough online
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/injury detail
maethereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
But... once these two met, it all fell apart for me. I suddenly didn't understand the characters' motivations for basically the rest of the novel... On top of that, all of the smaller storylines seemed to wrap up very quickly, which I found unrealistic and unnecessary.
And I'm not sure how to feel about the inclusion of this disability trope. It feels like it was just a device used by the author for a convenient storyline, and the character's handling of it, thinking about it, processing it, as well as that of her friends and family just did not ring true to me at all (coming from someone who became disabled as a young adult). Did Whalen talk to anyone who had gone through something like this? I hope so, but honestly it doesn't seem like it. So that's really disappointing. Disabled characters only included in books when it's convenient to make a storyline out of their disability... ugh.
Listened to this on audiobook and narration was great (obviously!).
Graphic: Dementia and Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, and Death
jess_segraves's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Abandonment and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Death, and Death of parent
cristinareading's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Injury/injury detail and Dementia
Moderate: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, and Racism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship