Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Cupid Calling

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Cupid Calling by Viano Oniomoh

6 reviews

bookishval's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? No

5.0

(Edit after writing this review) This is more like a love letter to Cupid Calling and Viano, just to warn you before you read, have fun!

When I read books that completely shook me and were an instant 5-star read, it's hard for me to write a review. I just have so many thoughts flying around my brain and I can't seem to organize them in a way that would make sense, so I take a long time to write a review (sometimes I never do). But even at risk of this being a bunch of rambling, I'll do my best.

Discovering Viano's books has to be one of the best things of my 2024 reading journey. I've read four books so far and I'm thinking about signing up to her patreon, if that doesn't tell you how invested I am in her stories, I don't know what will.

I think the best way to give this review some order, is to write everything I want to highlight in points.

I've read some books that have a reality tv show setting and come to the conclusion that I'm not the biggest fan, but Cupid Calling made me change my mind. From the start, before Ejiro and Obiora even met, all the articles and news about the show were so interesting. Obviously I want to read about their love story, but I got curious about the show as well.
I love how Obiora was the first one to fall y'all. What can I say? I'm a simple girl. Give me the obnoxious character who's so full of himself fall head over heels and YOU GOT ME. And some falling he did lol. I was EATING IT UP. How he started seeing Ejiro in a different light when he stood his ground. The way he described him too. I know it was too soon for love, obviously, but this man was absolutely gone for Ejiro,. Call it lust, a crush, whatever, he was so pathetic (in a good way). Not being able to keep his eyes off Ejiro, wanting to make him laugh, to touch him, I've never seen an MMC so starved from the other MMC's attention. This is always present in Viano's books, almost like a signature, but damn, Obiora takes the cake for sure.

Letting Obiora and Ejiro rest for a bit, I also want to talk about the side characters. Everyone was great and well-written (even the ones that were annoying). From their families, to the contestants and the producer of the show. Everyone was charming and charismatic. I've seen how in books with settings like this one, side characters tend to be forgotten, but Viano used them to make the story so much better.

I love how Ejiro and Obiora's relationship took time to build up. This is definitely a slow burn. They don't even like each other at first. Once they start talking and being comfortable around each other, the chemistry flies off the chart. But before I get to the romantic aspect of it, I really want to highlight their friendship moments. Especially when it came to Ejiro's struggles.
So at the beginning of the book, Ejiro mentions in his POV that when his sister came out to him, he question his sexuality as well, but only for a moment. If I remember correctly, the ace spectrum is mentioned in some capacity, but just in passing. He quickly dismisses the possibility. However he can no longer ignore it in the competition. He realizes he doesn't feel comfortable enough with Sophia yet to be intimate with her. He gets nervous, anxious and he feels helpless, because there is this beautiful, captivating and charming woman, and how can he not want to kiss her? He lets her kiss him anyway and he feels absolutely disgusting and guilty at the same time for feeling this way. Enter Obiora, seeing him in this state of helplessness, trying to anchor him to reality. And he makes Ejiro realize he's not exaggerating and he's not a bad person for feeling this way. Very carefully, he tries to provide Ejiro with a safe place to start thinking about his sexuality, to go back to his past experiences and truly see what was there from the beginning. And it was so beautiful to read. Obiora made Ejiro feel valid. His boundaries were violated (intentionally or not), and that was not okay. There were more moments like this, where Ejiro and Obiora were each other's safe place of comfort. And that, beyond their feelings for each other and how they develop romantically later on, was one of my favorite things about Cupid Calling.

Now, one of the things I adore about romance books that I sometimes miss when I read a romcom is the yearning and pining. It's also why I prefer dual POV. Being able to read how both characters yearn so deeply for each other is what keeps me going! And Viano, omg Viano knocked it out of the park with this one. These two were so obssessed with one another it was unreal. The level of pining? It physically hurt me. I ate this book in a day because I needed to see them finally confess, to acknowledge their feelings once and for all. And it was amazing, but omg the longing in between, it was splendid.

On a heavier note, let's talk about how Obiora's grief was handled. Obiora lost his girlfriend when they were just starting their life together. They were highschool sweethearts and life took her away from him before they even got the chance to explore their future. It destroyed him and the only thing that helped him deal with his grief was work. Even when he tried to "move on" like everyone told him he should, it sucked. His partner broke up with him because he couldn't seem to get over Ada, and he came to the conclusion that she was the love of his life and he couldn't love anyone again.
But then came Ejiro to change everything. Because you see, every person in Obiora's life kept saying that he should get over his "ex-girlfriend". That in order to be with someone else, he had to let her go. Because no one would want to always come second. He still celebrated her birthday and commemorated her death. His family saw this as a sign that he wasn't well. But Ejiro didn't think this way. He said, "how can they expect you to forget about her? They wouldn't say the same if it was your parent, or your sibling". And she wasn't an ex-partner. She was his girlfriend and she was taken from him. It wasn't like they had a bad break-up. She was a loved one. She died, and Obiora will never stop grieving her. The fact that Ejiro reassured Obiora that his feelings and his grief were valid was life-changing to him. And he couldn't help but love him even more.
I love how this was handled in the story, it was eye-opening for me to be honest. When I first read about how Obiora was grieving a partner that passed away I was prepare for a mess, but it was a pleasant surprise. I've never seen this take in a book before. It is a heavy subject for sure, but Viano did a great job with it and it made me love the characters even more.
This book also dealt with a manipulative and abusive parent, Ejiro's mom. It was difficult to read, of course. I wanted to hug him every time his mother came up. The things she said to him were so cruel, but I'm glad he had both his sister and Obiora to hold on to when he was ready to stand up to his mom. It was painful, but it needed to be done and I was so proud of him. (They truly felt like real people to me, leave me alone)
It's not a Viano book review if I don't talk about the spice y'all. Unlike her other novels, the spice here took it's time. Obiora and Ejiro's desire for each other was always there, but a slow burn romance also meant slow burn spice. But the wait was so worth it! Viano truly never disappoints. Their scenes were so tender, so full of love and trust I wanted to cry. I love how they took things slowly. Obiora was so understanding of Ejiro's boundaries, which he never got to experience in his only past relationship, where his partner never respected his limits.
Every scene had something different to offer, a new step Ejiro and Obiora took in their intimacy, and it was so hot!!
The book never felt too long for me, I've seen this is a bit of an unpopular opinion but for me it was just the right amount of longing, romance and spice. Also as a side note, once these two started dating there were so disgustingly adorable I couldn't stop smiling at my phone. How dare they?
As a last thing, kudos for how their relationship was handled inside the reality tv show. I love how no one's feelings got hurt and they did things the right way, never deceiving Sophia or letting her on.

I think that's it. I spend almost an hour writing this but I just had so much to say. Ejiro and Obiora have my heart and this will definitely be at the top of my favorite reads of 2024.

Content Warnings

thenextbookdilemma's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted sad 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

4.5

Content Warnings

smartie_chan's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.0

Content Warnings

patchy_at_best's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective

4.0

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wilybooklover's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

4.5

A bit slow to start, but this was so soft and sweet. Loved the discussions on sexuality and the explicit consent!

Content Warnings

shelvesofivy's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book totally blindsided me!!

All I really knew going in was the reality TV romance, plus the fact that it's bi x bi and has demi rep. But this had me physically crying literally on chapter 3, and then sobbing at multiple points throughout. The conversations surrounding queerness, identity, and family are all so real and honest and I think a lot can be gained from them. I also think that not many books go where this one did with grief and lost love.
Beyond the tears, this book was so fun!! It was wonderful and hilarious watching these idiots dance around each other for the first half of the book. (and it felt like watching my past self while seeing Ejiro's thoughts before having his awakening – or like watching a baby bird lol)

A few things did keep it from being fully 5 stars for me. It felt like there was just a bit too much "tell" in the beginning for me, and it took a little longer to pick up the plot than I would have liked. It would have worked better (in my opinion) if we started at or nearer to the start of filming and then dropped in the information about their families and friends throughout the story. I also agree with another reviewer who said a good portion of the ending could have been cut out.

Ultimately though, they didn't take away from my overall enjoyment and glee from this book. The romance was top tier ♡

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