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fanboyriot'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
3.0
♡ “Mean” Cat
♡ Good Humor
♡ Wholesome Friendships
This book dealt with grief of a spouse and trying to get out of the pit of depression, it also dealt with new feelings for an unexpected person. From tomato jokes at the farmers market to the not so innocent use of mouthwash this book wasn’t lacking in good humor. I also loved the friendships in this and how they were both there for each other in their own ways. Fishstick’s was a mood, just a simple cat who hated everyone… except Liam.
This book dealt with grief of a spouse and trying to get out of the pit of depression, it also dealt with new feelings for an unexpected person. From tomato jokes at the farmers market to the not so innocent use of mouthwash this book wasn’t lacking in good humor. I also loved the friendships in this and how they were both there for each other in their own ways. Fishstick’s was a mood, just a simple cat who hated everyone… except Liam.
The idea of this was super interesting and entertaining to read. Julian going and texting the phone number to his dead husband to try talking to him as his best friend said… only to get a reply by the stranger who currently has the phone number—the rest is history.
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (4/5)
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (4/5)
POV: Switching, First Person
Release Date: 24, April 2023
Rep: Gay (MC), No Labels (MC), Lesbian (SC)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Death, Homophobia, Car accident, and Death of parent
gabrielle_d20's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Car accident
Minor: Homophobia
tragicgloom's review
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The book had a great premise which was in my opinion unfortunately badly executed.
The book is supposed to be about Julian (the main character) moving on, healing and finding love again after the death of his husband but it fell kinda flat. Julian is grieving his husband's death but all we know about the said husband is his name and the fact that he loved his cat. I think author's intention was to write an emotional book but it was just sloppy because we don't know anything about important characters to make any form of connection with them.
The main characters barely had any chemistry between them, moreover, I found all of the characters to be annoying and toxic to each other, especially the main characters' best friends.
Also, as a queer person, I hate the "suddenly gay for you and nobody else" trope. I find that it's quite common in books writen by cis het (fetishizing) women. It's unrealistic and stupid.
The only thing I did like were the two chapters written in the cat's point of view. I've never seen anything like it before and I loved them.
The book is supposed to be about Julian (the main character) moving on, healing and finding love again after the death of his husband but it fell kinda flat. Julian is grieving his husband's death but all we know about the said husband is his name and the fact that he loved his cat. I think author's intention was to write an emotional book but it was just sloppy because we don't know anything about important characters to make any form of connection with them.
The main characters barely had any chemistry between them, moreover, I found all of the characters to be annoying and toxic to each other, especially the main characters' best friends.
Also, as a queer person, I hate the "suddenly gay for you and nobody else" trope. I find that it's quite common in books writen by cis het (fetishizing) women. It's unrealistic and stupid.
The only thing I did like were the two chapters written in the cat's point of view. I've never seen anything like it before and I loved them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death
Minor: Car accident and Death of parent
unusablebooklore's review
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book wasn’t terrible. The story had good bones. I loved that the MC’s were in their mid 30’s. But there were so many little things that scratched at my brain and left a mark I couldn’t give it more than a 3 star rating.
The wording choices made by the author were pretty glaring to me by the end of the first chapter. There was so much yelling, shouting and barking. It’s not really how I like to see communication described, it all felt very…aggressive.
There were formatting errors, not a big deal but weird.
There were inconsistencies. Obvious ones like, are Liams eyes brown or blue?! Chapters 5 and 6 can’t agree. Or where the MC’s meet at 18:00. Jules has 2 beers, walks home and then quietly let himself in the apartment? So he doesn’t wake Nora…? Sheesh. Nitpicky I know but it had me scrolling back when my brains image of Liam didn’t jive with the information I was being given or I though I had missed a few pages.
The discomfort I felt over Jules wanting Liam to say he was gay after doubling down on his reassurance of commitment gave me the ick.
The wording choices made by the author were pretty glaring to me by the end of the first chapter. There was so much yelling, shouting and barking. It’s not really how I like to see communication described, it all felt very…aggressive.
There were formatting errors, not a big deal but weird.
There were inconsistencies. Obvious ones like, are Liams eyes brown or blue?! Chapters 5 and 6 can’t agree. Or where the MC’s meet at 18:00. Jules has 2 beers, walks home and then quietly let himself in the apartment? So he doesn’t wake Nora…? Sheesh. Nitpicky I know but it had me scrolling back when my brains image of Liam didn’t jive with the information I was being given or I though I had missed a few pages.
The discomfort I felt over Jules wanting Liam to say he was gay after doubling down on his reassurance of commitment gave me the ick.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Car accident
sglance9's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Homophobia and Car accident
legalplanner's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This debut novel from Katie Warren was a quick read, I literally read this in a day. Now you might wonder if I liked it and it was a quick read how'd it end up at a 3.5.
There were a few things/tropes that I found a bit hard to connect with in this:
There were a few things/tropes that I found a bit hard to connect with in this:
- Only for you
- Mistaken Identity
- Toxic Masculinity
- Miscommunication
Some things I did like
- Talking about how grief isn't linear
- Friends supporting you in times of need.
- Moving on isn't replacement
The pros:
I'm a firm believer in grief not being linear and Jules was struggling and trying to find where he fit again in the world. I think starting the novel with tragedy was something that could have made the tone of the book change drastically, but instead it made it easier to process Jules grief. Jules BFF is extremely supportive and I loved that. We were able to see a no nonsense and supportive character on the grief journey with Jules and that was great to see that he wasn't alone. Finally, moving on isn't replacing your loved one and I think Warren did a great job of showing that these feelings are valid. I really felt for Jules on his journey.
The Cons:
The I'm only gay for you trope just isn't a type of thing that vibes for me. I'm aware there are many different types of people in various degrees of sexuality, however this just felt very unrealistic and kind of demeaning to the LGBTQIA community. I say this because it would have been a great moment to expand on how Liam had that mental connection with Jules and that truly heightened the attraction to him. Which leads me to the toxic masculinity. Liam's friend is a grade a Frat boy that just kind of was frustrating and felt one dimensional to me. The Mistaken Identity while not a big deal just kind of felt ick to me even though I get why it was a big deal. Finally, the miscommunication trope between the two because they would rather tell others than each other their problems was really hard to get over because they would have rather not talked about their issues sometimes. Liam was super understanding of Jules grief but still didn't try to explain his sexuality situation to him or his co-worker's toxicity.
Over all I did enjoy this book but those few cons were what brought me out of the book a bit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Minor: Death and Car accident