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onlyonebookshelf's review
dark
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Abandonment
Moderate: Drug abuse and Alcohol
stealingourhearts's review
dark
emotional
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
5.0
Pretty Woman but way better? 1000%. I loved Plum/Jo-Beth so freaking much. What I loved even more was Adam’s entire journey. His growth from childhood into adulthood and then into the bet version of himself with Jo-Beth. It was so sweet 😭 I adored this one.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🔥🔥🔥
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🔥🔥🔥
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault
now_booking's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This story was a lot of trauma but also a lot of heart. Featuring successful tech entrepreneur, Adam, and exotic dancer and sex worker, Jo Beth, this MC dark romance was in the Pretty Woman trope style except Jo Beth wasn’t waiting to be saved and she made things happen for herself. I overall really liked this, to the extent that it’s probably my favourite one in the series so far. I liked that both Jo Beth and Adam were incredibly self-aware people who owned their issues and understood and accepted the compromises they made to survive- Jo Beth moreso than Adam. I wasn’t entirely convinced about the instalove between Adam and Jo Beth especially in context of how they met. It seemed a little out of the blue even if the author did later kind of justify the relationship by portraying Adam and Jo Beth as different sides of the same coin pretty effectively. I thought in that sense, the characters and their relationship was carefully-crafted even if some of the significant trauma was never dealt with on page and at times it felt like Jo Beth instead had to take on the burden of shielding Adam from her past traumas because he couldn’t handle hearing about them and feeling powerless. This sort of made me like him a bit less because it sometimes felt her traumas became more about him than they were about her. That said, I did like both Adam and Jo Beth immensely. I also liked the romance body positivity in an author writing a heroine with wonky boobs as opposed to the usual romantic perfection. To me, this book’s biggest strength lies in Jo Beth’s absolute confidence in herself and how much Adam loved her for it. I don’t know that this series and this book will be for everyone and it feels a little different from the other books in the series so far because Adam is not a member of the MC and Jo Beth while part of the club family, isn’t a full member either., However, to me, this is the best book in the series so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Body shaming
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