linaslittlelibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Porter Roth<3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Drug use, and Gun violence
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Grief, Stalking, Cancer, and Death
theespressoedition's review against another edition
challenging
tense
fast-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
1.5
After just a day or two of thinking about this book, I felt it necessary to lower the rating from 2.5 to 1.5 stars. This book made me so uncomfortable that even as I write this review, I can feel my shoulders begin to rise up around my ears in an unpleasant way.
First and foremost: this book should not be YA. If you aged up the female protagonist just a year and a half, it would've been NA or adult and that would've been much more suitable. Seeing as it is YA, my rating should hopefully make a bit more sense once I get into the details.
The content in this book is heavy. It's under the guise of being a cute, You've Got Mail kind of thing. Online friends who meet IRL but don't realize who the other person is. You know the drill. But now that you're imagining the kind of adorable confusion and mystery, add in the fact that the love interest was attacked by a shark as a kid and has the scars to prove it (both physically and emotionally) and the MC was kidnapped and shot as a child, giving her severe PTSD. OH, and the best friend of the love interest is a major drug addict who likes to just take a shotgun places and scare the crap out of people while high. YEAH. Not a cute, YA romcom.
As someone with my own fears of gun violence, I felt on edge the entire time I read this book. There were scenes I had to skim entirely just because of the discomfort. This is written for a younger audience and at nearly 30, I could barely handle it. Again I say, this should not be YA.
If you're looking for something fun, summer-y, and cute, look the other way. This isn't it.
First and foremost: this book should not be YA. If you aged up the female protagonist just a year and a half, it would've been NA or adult and that would've been much more suitable. Seeing as it is YA, my rating should hopefully make a bit more sense once I get into the details.
The content in this book is heavy. It's under the guise of being a cute, You've Got Mail kind of thing. Online friends who meet IRL but don't realize who the other person is. You know the drill. But now that you're imagining the kind of adorable confusion and mystery, add in the fact that the love interest was attacked by a shark as a kid and has the scars to prove it (both physically and emotionally) and the MC was kidnapped and shot as a child, giving her severe PTSD. OH, and the best friend of the love interest is a major drug addict who likes to just take a shotgun places and scare the crap out of people while high. YEAH. Not a cute, YA romcom.
As someone with my own fears of gun violence, I felt on edge the entire time I read this book. There were scenes I had to skim entirely just because of the discomfort. This is written for a younger audience and at nearly 30, I could barely handle it. Again I say, this should not be YA.
If you're looking for something fun, summer-y, and cute, look the other way. This isn't it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Addiction, Gun violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, and Grief
In-depth stories of a shark attack and also of a shootingdianaschmidty's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Violence and Addiction
Minor: Death, Cancer, and Infidelity
elineo's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Predictable, but very sweet!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Drug use
Minor: Cancer, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders
kclikesthings's review against another edition
funny
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gun violence
breereadsalot_'s review against another edition
challenging
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Drug use
Moderate: Cancer and Alcohol
Minor: Sexism
tkatt20's review
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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
4.5
This was such a cute book and I did not want to put it down. I thought the characters were really cute and they all had a really cool dynamic with each other and it sort of had an enemies to lovers thing going which is always a plus. I really liked that the main love interest wasn't painted to be perfect in every way like some romance books do, and the main character actually taking responsibility for her actions made it even better. This book also handle trauma and ptsd very well for a YA book and it showed the struggles that the different characters had to deal with
It would have been a 5 star book for me but I wasn't really enamored by the writing style but it was really cute and made me feel like this story was being told to me by a best friend so it wasn't a huge deal to me. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick summer read or someone really into romance.
It would have been a 5 star book for me but I wasn't really enamored by the writing style but it was really cute and made me feel like this story was being told to me by a best friend so it wasn't a huge deal to me. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick summer read or someone really into romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Sexual content
alaynatabor's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, and Gun violence
Minor: Car accident, Drug abuse, and Drug use
ifersinklings's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Confinement and Death
rachaelbeau's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-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? Yes
5.0
AHHHH hella cute. Can I have a Porter Roth please?
I went into this expecting a 3 star, maaaaybe 4 star read. I was really impressed! The characters were actually good, which has been an issue I've been running into with YA recently. I like Bailey, and Porter, and Grace. I liked that the parents are around and exist, the kids have rules to abide by (hello curfew, my old friend), it felt realistic enough to get on board.
There is sex in this book, and I thought it was handled so well. Consent and protection were involved, which is really important in YA books (I mean it's important in adult books as well, but especially so with formative young minds who may be having or thinking about having sex for the first time.) It wasn't unrealistic, nor did it drone on about the pain of sex for Bailey, or make it this big scary BIG DEAL. I thought Bennett handled it perfectly. The right amount of steam for a YA book, with some lessons on the side.
I loved this book. It's the perfect beach or poolside read. I do have to mention that it's weird that the cover never happened in the book...anyways, it's cute af so who really cares.
I went into this expecting a 3 star, maaaaybe 4 star read. I was really impressed! The characters were actually good, which has been an issue I've been running into with YA recently. I like Bailey, and Porter, and Grace. I liked that the parents are around and exist, the kids have rules to abide by (hello curfew, my old friend), it felt realistic enough to get on board.
There is sex in this book, and I thought it was handled so well. Consent and protection were involved, which is really important in YA books (I mean it's important in adult books as well, but especially so with formative young minds who may be having or thinking about having sex for the first time.) It wasn't unrealistic, nor did it drone on about the pain of sex for Bailey, or make it this big scary BIG DEAL. I thought Bennett handled it perfectly. The right amount of steam for a YA book, with some lessons on the side.
I loved this book. It's the perfect beach or poolside read. I do have to mention that it's weird that the cover never happened in the book...anyways, it's cute af so who really cares.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Cancer
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