cassie12_21's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Spoiler
smut doesnât happen until about 80% through đ˘Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Violence, and Death of parent
megcarrick's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Grief, Alcohol, Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Medical content, Misogyny, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Pregnancy
roadesntoades's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Bullying, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Body shaming, Cancer, Abandonment, Chronic illness, and Death
Minor: Eating disorder
elliepeagram1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.75
Graphic: Abandonment
rensreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
i liked catalina up until the last 2 chapters. she felt like a real life person i could come across on the street. most romance mcâs arenât very dimensional so armas did very well with hers. she was strong, stubborn, but also prone to panicking because of the rough stuff she had gone through in life.
as for aaron, i didnât like him when he said nothing to defend lina from gerard in that meeting where she gets assigned to organize an event she has no idea how to put together, but he grew on me. it became very clear that he had liked her a long time before she ever considered him even being nice and i liked that about him, but then he started getting weird about how much she ate and about her health. it reminded me of christian gray and that is not someone you want to be compared to, fellas. he very quickly dropped that âhow much have you eaten todayâ thing though so i was relieved about that. but then he started to try and seduce lina at weird, inopportune moments and that gave me mad second-hand embarrassment. he ended up being pretty okay in the end.
what did give me the ick was a spanish woman using the word âsavagesâ in a playful manner when spain is just as much of a colonizer country as england and the fact that after being
Spoiler
groomed and manipulated by her first boyfriend/old professorSpoiler
i did like that she caught onto the fact that he groomed her when she sees him in spain again though. he says something like âweâre both adults nowâ and she goes ballistic âcompared to when? to when we were dating and you said you loved me and made me feel so special?â GOOD FOR HER!and then we hit the last chapter and im hit with so much cringe.
Spoiler
in my opinion, that very last act âbreakupâ was also unnecessary as fuck. there went the rational woman lina had finally worked herself into being. she had done a lot of work on herself and i get her trust issues arenât going to be in tip-top shape, but we didnât need a novela worthy drama arc to rush her into going where she was already headed, yknow? that was unneeded and it ruined a bit of her character development as well.also armas, you robbed us of the martin family meeting aaronâs dad in the epilogue. ABSOLUTE CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR! JAIL!
in terms of spice, iâd give this a solid 2/5 đś there were 2 explicit smut scenes and 2 heavy petting, semi-public makeout sessions.
Spoiler
the dirty talk wasnât all that surprising, but the mild spanking was.i think iâd give this book 3.75 stars if i wanted to get very specific with my ratings. it wasnât the best, but it wasnât bad either. a good and enjoyable experience for the most part đ
(why were there so many twilight references btw??)
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexism, Grief, Misogyny, and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Cancer
Minor: Bullying, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
itâs never made clear how old lina was when she met daniel, but she was definitelySpoiler
groomed and manipulatedthatswhatshanread's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
First and foremost, I really wanted to love this. Virtually everyone I know that has read it has gushed over it. And it had those romcom elements that usually make your heart swell and your mind go all melty with love.
Instead, this book just made me cringe. I hate to say thatâbut the cringe didnât go away as the story went on. Normally, I love the enemies-to-lovers trope. The work romance trope. The back and forth. The slow burn. The one-bed trope. The TENSION. Unfortunately, all of those predictable nuances felt disconnected and forced to me. The storyline was very similar to The Hating Gameâwhich I LOVEDâand maybe that might have also been the reason this story made me so mad.
Because it had POTENTIAL!!! So much potential. But the writing in general was just so so repetitive, especially when it came to certain descriptive words and actions or thoughts made by the MC. It made the veryyyy slow burn even slower. The buildup just didnât feel organic. And once the buildup rewarded the reader with that moment youâd been waiting for⌠I just could not. The love interest, which up until that point I actually grew to like, completely changed. This seems to be a common theme in certain romance novels: that the hot-and-heavy moments have to transform the characters into intense maniacs that, frankly, disturb me. Maybe thatâs on me. Probably. But seriouslyyyy it felt like whiplash!! It just didnât feel true to the characters, IMO. It felt a little like a cop-out just for the ~seductive shock factor~ idk.
I must have liked this book in some way to be this frustrated by it. The âocean blueâ eyes were mentioned no less than a thousand times. âMy fake boyfriendâ, or referring to any character by their relation to the MC instead of by name, drove me crazy. It wasnât just once. It was multiple times, over and over even when you knew who they were. Also, the excessive use of names when talking to each other. No one talks like that irl!!
Elena Armas, girl, I know this was your debut book and I really do commend you for self-publishing it butâ âI hate to say it, I hope I donât sound ridiculous, I donât know who this man is. I mean, he could be walking down the street, I wouldnât know a thing. Sorry to this man.â
Please donât hate me I just gotta be honest ty!!!!
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Cancer, and Cursing
Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Terminal illness, and Abandonment
Minor: Stalking
se6500's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexism
Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Mental illness
Minor: Abandonment, Cursing, Grief, and Racism
laurenjane's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Abandonment, Body shaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
rads27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abandonment and Cancer