Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Maravilloso desastre

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Maravilloso desastre by Jamie McGuire

13 reviews

tanacef's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Undecided between 3.5 and 3.75 stars. It did leave me with a good HEA feeling, despite all of the drama and toxicity, which I tend to rate higher, but the subject matter was a little juvenile. My TBR wheel picked this book for me and I went in without expectations. It is definitely what I would consider a “guilty pleasure” read, about a toxic relationship between teenaged college students who do and get up to ridiculous and unbelievable things, but it was ultimately very titillating, and I couldn’t help but enjoy it, in the same way I enjoyed shows like The OC. I will consider reading the sequel, but probably not for a while.

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whiskeywoman79's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

If I remind myself that it is a book and not real I am okay with everything for 4 whole seconds. This book was WOW but not always in a good way!! I wanted to love the characters but they all had MAJOR flaws, so I found myself not knowing who I was cheering for or what outcome I was hoping for. That being said the dram was so amazingly written that I read all 418 pages in one day; unwanting to put it down!! This book will be something I am torn over reading and a guilty pleasure all at the same time.

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the_pink_pharmacist's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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culzean's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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ecravens's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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moodreadererin's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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elizabeth_delozier's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

2.5 stars, which feels generous.

I initially bought this book because I had just finished reading the Beautiful Bastard series by Christina Lauren (which is a new adult series of stand-alone romances with character crossover, mostly office romance and heavy on the spice) and everywhere I looked, people recommended that if I liked that series that surely this book would be for me.

WRONG!

This book was nothing like that series. Different in every imaginable way. Even with multiple years in between reading the different books, this still left a sour feeling for me.

But, lets put that aside and talk about this book without the comparison to the previously mentioned series.

This story follows a young college student, Abby, who has fled her old life, which includes a gambling and emotionally abusive father. She then meets Travis, an underground fighter with a bad attitude. The two characters enter into a toxic friendship, followed by an even more toxic relationship. The two make a bet, leading to Abby living with Travis for a period of time and sharing one bed.

The characters are not loveable, at all. Both characters are extremely immature. Similarly, the narration of the audiobook portrays the characters as such - it feels childlike. The writing was subpar with horrible pacing, especially towards the end, and unnecessary plot points that distract from the book. Also, after reading the book I found that the author was simply not a good human.

Do not read this book if toxic relationships are not your thing in books, because that is all that this book is. So much gaslighting, emotional abuse, lack of communication, and just nonsense that in reality is never okay. However, if you enjoy that in your fiction, well, here you go.

Overall, I hated the characters, hated the toxicity (which, I often enjoy in stories, but this was not the one), hated the plot, and did not find the writing to be good in any way. This book is being made into a movie, however given the above information I do not recommend that medium either.

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