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readbykatherine's review against another edition
emotional
funny
fast-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Cancer, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Classism and Racism
basrina's review against another edition
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Cancer
theragereader's review against another edition
2.5
While I largely enjoyed this book more than Throttled, it, by no means, is amazing. In between Declan treating Iris abhorrently and sneering at everyone around him and crying over his treatment by his father and Iris inexplicably being attracted to him despite his vile treatment, there were moments I loved—their back-n-forth banter, the little things he did to be nice for her, CAL. But any love I had for this book is overshadowed by just how abusive Declan is to Iris; over and over he snaps at her, throws a tantrum, and anytime she pushes back, he just mentions his dead, dead and did I mention dead mom and how he's sooooo unloveable and she forgave him. Also all of his little quirks are due to said dead mom. He likes mimosa and F1? Dead mom did. He likes elephants? Dead mom did. He drives a nice car? It was his mom's. He knows about Iris's learning disability? His mom had the same one. The little dumb word game he and iris play? He and his mom did—jesus, is there anything you enjoy/do that doesn't loop back to your Dead Mom? You can't tell me that him buying her a greenhouse and adopting a dog for her after calling her a failure, which her abusive dad always did, is gonna make her accept his random-ass marriage proposal. Why even make Iris Black if it adds nothing to the narrative? Iris could've been white and everything would've been the same, except she wouldn't have fallen into the “Black character has to do emotional labor for the traumatized, woe-is-me white character/love interest”. Nevermind how overworked she is. I hated Declan with a burning passion and Iris, for that matter. She never stayed angry with him, even when she had every reason to be, and each time she'd feel guilty and sorry for daring to be upset. Get mad, girlie! Don't let him pout and wobble his fucking lip and buy you plant after he hurt you so badly. I don't think I'll ever pick up anything by Lauren Asher again for the amount of bullshit in her books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Classism, Cursing, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Cancer
katierosecrane's review against another edition
funny
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
4.75
Slow burn, but worth the wait. There was a good plot in the book that was unique and I loved the way Asher intertwined the characters in the other books. The ending is predictable, but not until like the LAST part of the book. It was the kind of predictable that was sweet but not super cheesy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, and Sexual content
green_mm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I was disappointed in this novel. The story is way too derivative of the preceding book, The Fine Print. Recurring phrases, character quirks, storyline conflicts, and writing tropes mirrored the first installment too closely to make this book feel fresh. Most notably, the leading man of this novel, Declan, was unrelenting in his pursuit of Iris, his love interest. He repeatedly disparaged her in myriad ways, making me wish Iris would not have taken him back in the end. Further, even though I know Iris is not a real person, I felt bad for her as if she was. Although Asher had altruistic intent in writing a modern romance with a woman-of-color lead, the impact felt inappropriate and cringeworthy to me. Whether intentionally or not, Asher paints Iris in Black stereotypes: having a deadbeat bad, enjoying spicy chicken, possessing a hands-on-hips personality, being from a low socioeconomic status, etc. Perhaps you can write characters of a background different than yours, but you cannot incorporate tone deaf notions about said people in doing so. In total, the prevalence of unoriginal beats, predictable outcomes, and uncomfortable characterizations makes this book unlikable to me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, Domestic abuse, and Ableism
Minor: Alcoholism
hannahmcl394'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Definitely preferred this one to the first in the series, although I wouldn’t say there is a drastic difference as I have seen others review.
Declan appealed to me more a lot more than Rowan, despite being described as the more “robotic” or heartless of all the brothers I found him a lot more loveable and thoroughly enjoyed reading the book from his pov (most notably the secret smiles he doesn’t allow Iris to see)
The wedding in particularly coaxed a visceral reaction from me and absolutely reeked havoc with emotions.
Love love loved Iris and Cals friendship!! I only wish there was more of it (however there is always book 3) and thoroughly enjoyed the small moments of Declan’s jealously over it.
Initial rating: 5 stars
Reviewed rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5
While this is my favourite Lauren Asher book so far and in some ways it could deserve the five star rating when compared to books by other others (Ana Huang) the writing falls short and so it must be dropped a fraction of a star.
Spice rating: 🌶🌶🌶 3.5 spice
Not huge amounts of smut but worth the buildup and definitely integrated well into the storyline without feeling forced. Very much a slow burn romance with great pay off. <spoiler?> THE OFFICE SCENE OH MY GOD!!
Would I read again? Yes
Would I recommend? Yes
Declan appealed to me more a lot more than Rowan, despite being described as the more “robotic” or heartless of all the brothers I found him a lot more loveable and thoroughly enjoyed reading the book from his pov (most notably the secret smiles he doesn’t allow Iris to see)
The wedding in particularly coaxed a visceral reaction from me and absolutely reeked havoc with emotions.
Love love loved Iris and Cals friendship!! I only wish there was more of it (however there is always book 3) and thoroughly enjoyed the small moments of Declan’s jealously over it.
Initial rating: 5 stars
Reviewed rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5
While this is my favourite Lauren Asher book so far and in some ways it could deserve the five star rating when compared to books by other others (Ana Huang) the writing falls short and so it must be dropped a fraction of a star.
Spice rating: 🌶🌶🌶 3.5 spice
Not huge amounts of smut but worth the buildup and definitely integrated well into the storyline without feeling forced. Very much a slow burn romance with great pay off. <spoiler?> THE OFFICE SCENE OH MY GOD!!
Would I read again? Yes
Would I recommend? Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Physical abuse
Minor: Medical content, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Alcoholism, and Pregnancy
culzean's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Blood, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Toxic relationship
jennyslibrary's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-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
3.75
This book was so good!
I love the grumpy x sunshine trope, and the “forced marriage” sprinkled the forced proximity trope on top of it all. The appearances of Rowan and Zahra made the book ten times better, seeing as they were as happily in love as ever before. This book will make you believe in love. It has so many great sides, although I did find Declan’s attitude very frustrating at times. But this just adds to how happy I was when it all turned out great. The dual pov made it possible to see their love and grief from both perspectives, and that made the book all the quicker and easier to read. Because although not many things happen, the slow burn of them going from barely friends to getting married because they have to, makes the slow burn so much better. With almost 500 pages it still had me drooling for their love. They have their own LOVE LANGUAGE damn it!
I love the grumpy x sunshine trope, and the “forced marriage” sprinkled the forced proximity trope on top of it all. The appearances of Rowan and Zahra made the book ten times better, seeing as they were as happily in love as ever before. This book will make you believe in love. It has so many great sides, although I did find Declan’s attitude very frustrating at times. But this just adds to how happy I was when it all turned out great. The dual pov made it possible to see their love and grief from both perspectives, and that made the book all the quicker and easier to read. Because although not many things happen, the slow burn of them going from barely friends to getting married because they have to, makes the slow burn so much better. With almost 500 pages it still had me drooling for their love. They have their own LOVE LANGUAGE damn it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Child abuse, Cancer, Violence, and Alcoholism
sami_leigh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
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
3.75
🌶🌶.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Child abuse
Minor: Cancer, Medical content, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Grief
chavborromeo's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
To begin with, I really like Iris and her best friend Cal. I understand where Declan's coming from but it irk me every time he's being an asshole.
I just don't like the push and pull. Like the female MC is the one who do the begging and asking for forgiveness but after a minute the situation become opposite?? And I feel like the ending is rush? And the main issue aren't talk about enough🙃
I just don't like the push and pull. Like the female MC is the one who do the begging and asking for forgiveness but after a minute the situation become opposite?? And I feel like the ending is rush? And the main issue aren't talk about enough🙃
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Cancer, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse