hannibanani29's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Blood, and Homophobia
smuttymcbookface's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wow, what a book, and so much to cover!
First of all, I want to commend this book on the adult handling of so many difficult topics, from calorie intake for professionals to handling workplace relationships where the friendship has soured. The wonderful communication between the two main characters meant you truly understood how both were feeling, even from opposite sides. There was something realistic about each of the characters, and you truly felt they could have existed outside of the romance book.
My two main gripes about this were that I felt the plot dragged on a little at the end (for example,) and that some of the actions were a little too childish sometimes for me to reconcile with the development of the characters. However, both of these were minor gripes, and I found the book amazing overall.
First of all, I want to commend this book on the adult handling of so many difficult topics, from calorie intake for professionals to handling workplace relationships where the friendship has soured. The wonderful communication between the two main characters meant you truly understood how both were feeling, even from opposite sides. There was something realistic about each of the characters, and you truly felt they could have existed outside of the romance book.
My two main gripes about this were that I felt the plot dragged on a little at the end (for example,
Spoiler
her skating and falling into the lake was an unnecessary extra
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming
Minor: Blood, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault
riviuu's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
its a bit like fanfiction but i did enjoy the non-toxic characters and the actual character self reflection in this book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting
Minor: Mental illness, Alcohol, Cursing, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy
l_lilly_05's review against another edition
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Violence, Body shaming, and Gaslighting
Minor: Sexual assault, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol, and Fatphobia
pagesihavenotyetread's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Blood, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Vomit
abifoster02's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Blood, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Vomit, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy
sophieamreacher's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I got this after reading From Lukov, With Love and I felt like it had so much potential but I just felt this was missing something. I felt like some of the characters needed fleshing out more and I wished we saw more of them training together and building that relationship and trust. I was also a bit let down by the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Violence
Minor: Pregnancy, Blood, and Vomit
cdoubet's review against another edition
emotional
tense
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Sexual content, Blood, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Bullying, Vomit, Alcohol, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Addiction, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
kingangie's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
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
Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, and Body shaming
Minor: Pregnancy
icarusandthesun's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
fanfic-y writing, lots (and i mean lots) of smut and a rather lacking story sums it up pretty well.
if you're looking for comfort or escapism, enjoy reading about possessive and jealous, hormone controlled college students who act like they're still in high-school, paired with inconsequential, unconvincing drama threaded into 440 pages of sex, parties and only a pinch of actual figure skating and ice hockey, i think you might like this book.
but for me personally, all of it was just too much.
i didn't like the characters. they were a little two-dimensional, horny all the damn time and some of the hockey players i simply couldn't tell apart, because they were so similar (douchey, clowny "good guys"). i didn't think there was any substance to work with, no stunning and unique personalities, nothing. the only person that actually summoned some sort of recognizable image in my head upon hearing his name was henry. and it was even worse with the girls, because the author chose to not give some of them any personality at all. there were names and corresponding characteristics (girl 1 is an annoying bitch, girl 2 rejected nathan, and so forth) but that's basically it.
also... the smut, right. i don't have anything against smut in general, but there was just too much of it for my liking. it was really A LOT. and oh my days, if i took a shot every time nathan mentioned his boner and all the little daily things anastasia does that turn him on, i'd have died of alcohol poisoning long before even reaching the second half of the book. also, some of it was just so inappropriate??
the obvious event to mention here would be them literally fucking in an UBER that they shared with all of their friends. but it was the little things, too. like her being turned on by the fact nathan's favorite movie is coco, A KIDS' MOVIE BY THE WAY. or them playing 'house', you know... the thing that children do, and it results in them fucking.
idk, maybe that's just me, but that shit made me uncomfortable to say the least.
there were also quite a lot of generic tropes in there that just weren't done quite well enough. of course there's a scene where the main character gets sexually harassed at a bar and rescued. it was so inconsequential and stupid, sexual harassment used as a means to show that a specific person is "good". great.
the plot wasn't it either. i wanted more figure skating, and ice hockey. i wanted more plot, more things that could make the book unique and interesting. more genuine distress. the 'villain', or antagonist, was boring. the whole drama was boring. everything about the plot was boring.
what threw me off was how self-aware this book was sometimes. when i mentally called out a character on their bullshit, it did occur various times that another character calls them out on said bullshit. but that, too, wasn't done quite well enough, because the calling out had no consequences and was often used as a sort of "joke" or form of comic relief?
i spent most of my time reading wondering who exactly this was written for. because the writing is fanfic-y and so are the tropes, and the characters behave like teenagers. but it's 18+ and contains graphic sex scenes so what...
it felt so off because it never stuck to its supposed tone. it swayed into the adult romance direction and then hits you with the most childish dialogue - i don't know, it was just weird, know i'm saying.
+
gotta give this book credit though where it's due. some jokes were funny. and buddy-reading this did get me out of a reading slump, because it was easy and roastable and so entertaining (in all the wrong and infuriating ways, but entertaining nonetheless).
i was a little scared the representation (for various things) would be overdone and ridiculed when nathan outed jj as pansexual in the first couple of pages. but the rep was very subtle going forward, which was nice.
i also have to admit, the eating disorder representation was spot on. especially the middle part and her (suspiciously fast) recovery journey were relatable, though kept quite short, maybe a little too short to be representative, but the emotions and concerns anastasia conveyed about her weight were realistic.
the whole message surrounding therapy and how it feels hard at first but eventually can be really rewarding was cool, too.
oh, and the book had a romantic line or two in it as well, i guess.
yeah. i can't say i had fun. 440 pages were just a little too much for so little plot, so of course the book started derailing and getting sillier by the page from the second half on.
the epilogue was okay. it made their lives come full-circle. it wasn't interesting or exciting or especially impactful, it was just nice. okay. mid.
but then again, the book probably just wasn't for me. it's not supposed to be overanalyzed that way, it's just a funny little steamy romance for peak escapism. but i tend to take all of my books seriously like that, so here we are.
take from this whatever you will. if you do decide to pick it up, i sincerely hope you'll enjoy it.
if you're looking for comfort or escapism, enjoy reading about possessive and jealous, hormone controlled college students who act like they're still in high-school, paired with inconsequential, unconvincing drama threaded into 440 pages of sex, parties and only a pinch of actual figure skating and ice hockey, i think you might like this book.
but for me personally, all of it was just too much.
i didn't like the characters. they were a little two-dimensional, horny all the damn time and some of the hockey players i simply couldn't tell apart, because they were so similar (douchey, clowny "good guys"). i didn't think there was any substance to work with, no stunning and unique personalities, nothing. the only person that actually summoned some sort of recognizable image in my head upon hearing his name was henry. and it was even worse with the girls, because the author chose to not give some of them any personality at all. there were names and corresponding characteristics (girl 1 is an annoying bitch, girl 2 rejected nathan, and so forth) but that's basically it.
also... the smut, right. i don't have anything against smut in general, but there was just too much of it for my liking. it was really A LOT. and oh my days, if i took a shot every time nathan mentioned his boner and all the little daily things anastasia does that turn him on, i'd have died of alcohol poisoning long before even reaching the second half of the book. also, some of it was just so inappropriate??
the obvious event to mention here would be them literally fucking in an UBER that they shared with all of their friends. but it was the little things, too. like her being turned on by the fact nathan's favorite movie is coco, A KIDS' MOVIE BY THE WAY. or them playing 'house', you know... the thing that children do, and it results in them fucking.
idk, maybe that's just me, but that shit made me uncomfortable to say the least.
there were also quite a lot of generic tropes in there that just weren't done quite well enough. of course there's a scene where the main character gets sexually harassed at a bar and rescued. it was so inconsequential and stupid, sexual harassment used as a means to show that a specific person is "good". great.
the plot wasn't it either. i wanted more figure skating, and ice hockey. i wanted more plot, more things that could make the book unique and interesting. more genuine distress. the 'villain', or antagonist, was boring. the whole drama was boring. everything about the plot was boring.
Spoiler
seriously, aaron's whole performance was just embarassing if anything and didn't have any impact at all. c'mon, there was this intense build-up to the team revealing what aaron said about anastasia and it was about her being adopted, because that's the worst and most offensive thing the guy could come up with. it was so silly because anastasia said it herself that she doesn't care about her birth parents, because her parents love her. so what the fuck.what threw me off was how self-aware this book was sometimes. when i mentally called out a character on their bullshit, it did occur various times that another character calls them out on said bullshit. but that, too, wasn't done quite well enough, because the calling out had no consequences and was often used as a sort of "joke" or form of comic relief?
i spent most of my time reading wondering who exactly this was written for. because the writing is fanfic-y and so are the tropes, and the characters behave like teenagers. but it's 18+ and contains graphic sex scenes so what...
it felt so off because it never stuck to its supposed tone. it swayed into the adult romance direction and then hits you with the most childish dialogue - i don't know, it was just weird, know i'm saying.
+
gotta give this book credit though where it's due. some jokes were funny. and buddy-reading this did get me out of a reading slump, because it was easy and roastable and so entertaining (in all the wrong and infuriating ways, but entertaining nonetheless).
i was a little scared the representation (for various things) would be overdone and ridiculed when nathan outed jj as pansexual in the first couple of pages. but the rep was very subtle going forward, which was nice.
i also have to admit, the eating disorder representation was spot on. especially the middle part and her (suspiciously fast) recovery journey were relatable, though kept quite short, maybe a little too short to be representative, but the emotions and concerns anastasia conveyed about her weight were realistic.
the whole message surrounding therapy and how it feels hard at first but eventually can be really rewarding was cool, too.
oh, and the book had a romantic line or two in it as well, i guess.
yeah. i can't say i had fun. 440 pages were just a little too much for so little plot, so of course the book started derailing and getting sillier by the page from the second half on.
the epilogue was okay. it made their lives come full-circle. it wasn't interesting or exciting or especially impactful, it was just nice. okay. mid.
but then again, the book probably just wasn't for me. it's not supposed to be overanalyzed that way, it's just a funny little steamy romance for peak escapism. but i tend to take all of my books seriously like that, so here we are.
take from this whatever you will. if you do decide to pick it up, i sincerely hope you'll enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Body shaming
Minor: Medical content, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Vomit