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iperryauthor's review
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying and Cancer
Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, and War
allylippy93's review
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, and Grief
claireelyse06's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-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
4.25
Full disclosure, I hate romance. Hallmark and I are mortal enemies. Why did I rate this book so high then? Many reasons. This is part of my new effort to find the best romance book (in my humble opinion). And this first one blew me away. Maybe I just hate Hallmark movies and can read Hallmark books? Who knows.
First off, I have seen a few negative reviews about this book bashing it because it's pretty religious. Those people are (in my humble opinion), crazy. They should have seen it coming!! First off, God is mentioned in the back description. Second of all, the publishing company is literally a Bible/Christian book publisher. Third of all, in the copyright there is a statement saying that all scripture verses used are from the King James version of the Bible. And if that wasn't enough, the first thing before the prologue is a quote from C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I think that should have been a big enough tip-off that the book was going to have pretty religious themes. So that's on the readers.
Is this book cringe? Yes. If I took a shot every time the author used the word "totally" I would be very drunk. The dialouge at times read like the worst teen movie you've ever seen. That usually really bothers me, but it didn't with this book. To add to the cringe, there's the cliche high school mean girl trope. Espeically towards the beginning you would have thought her and Sharpay Evans would be best friends. It was bad. Though a couple of the things the mean girl (Beatrice) did towards the end were less cringe and more genuinely mean. We didn't get much closure with her though, which kind of pissed me off not gonna lie.
The book also got repetitive at times, like the whole "I'm not who you think I am" thing. That's a big problem with romance novels in general.
Last thing that I didn't like (and this isn't specific to this book, but the cringe romance genre in general) is how quickly things get turned around. Like there's seldom time to slowly change, it's always immediate and dramatic. Yes, the thing at the end was done a little bit better than I would have expected, but there were a few moments where I was like "oh come on, no one changes that quickly".
Apart from the cringe moments, the characters were loveable. Even when she could be cringe/dumb, I found myself rooting for Finley. Beckett wasn't as cringe as he could have been, which was good. There were also some moments I found myself releating to the main character and her faith journey. There were a couple of lines that just really hit close to home.
Just as a warning, despite it's Hallmark subgenre, this book has some DARK themes. So please beware. But if you can handle it, this book is a great guilty read. Good for St. Patrick's day. It was very enjoyable and I couldn't put it down. So well done! However, as a PSA, I do think that If I had more romance books and more exposure I would have rated this book lower.
First off, I have seen a few negative reviews about this book bashing it because it's pretty religious. Those people are (in my humble opinion), crazy. They should have seen it coming!! First off, God is mentioned in the back description. Second of all, the publishing company is literally a Bible/Christian book publisher. Third of all, in the copyright there is a statement saying that all scripture verses used are from the King James version of the Bible. And if that wasn't enough, the first thing before the prologue is a quote from C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I think that should have been a big enough tip-off that the book was going to have pretty religious themes. So that's on the readers.
Is this book cringe? Yes. If I took a shot every time the author used the word "totally" I would be very drunk. The dialouge at times read like the worst teen movie you've ever seen. That usually really bothers me, but it didn't with this book. To add to the cringe, there's the cliche high school mean girl trope. Espeically towards the beginning you would have thought her and Sharpay Evans would be best friends. It was bad. Though a couple of the things the mean girl (Beatrice) did towards the end were less cringe and more genuinely mean. We didn't get much closure with her though, which kind of pissed me off not gonna lie.
The book also got repetitive at times, like the whole "I'm not who you think I am" thing. That's a big problem with romance novels in general.
Last thing that I didn't like (and this isn't specific to this book, but the cringe romance genre in general) is how quickly things get turned around. Like there's seldom time to slowly change, it's always immediate and dramatic. Yes, the thing at the end was done a little bit better than I would have expected, but there were a few moments where I was like "oh come on, no one changes that quickly".
Apart from the cringe moments, the characters were loveable. Even when she could be cringe/dumb, I found myself rooting for Finley. Beckett wasn't as cringe as he could have been, which was good. There were also some moments I found myself releating to the main character and her faith journey. There were a couple of lines that just really hit close to home.
Just as a warning, despite it's Hallmark subgenre, this book has some DARK themes. So please beware. But if you can handle it, this book is a great guilty read. Good for St. Patrick's day. It was very enjoyable and I couldn't put it down. So well done! However, as a PSA, I do think that If I had more romance books and more exposure I would have rated this book lower.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Grief
breedawnwriter's review
3.0
This is a hard one to review. On one hand, it was a really beautiful contemporary novel filled with grief, romance, Irish wonder, and family. But on the other...it attempted to tackle some really heavy topics in a way that didn't feel very satisfying or healthy.
What I loved:
- Beckett and Finley's relationship. I love the enemies-to-lovers trope because it digs deeper than the surface-level insta-love trope. When you have two characters who hate each other, they have to learn how to like each other before they can love each other, and that really shows in this story. Furthermore, I appreciated that neither one of them ever really held back from telling the other person what they thought because that's a rare trait in a relationship nowadays.
- The setting. Ireland is a place I've always wanted to visit, so I loved every moment of the views, the tourist sites, and the landscape.
- Finley's host family. I love that this was a cross between "family" and "found family." It was really cool to watch Finley interact with Erin and the rest of the family.
What I didn't love:
- Finley's eating disorder. I don't know why this wasn't included in the blurb because it's a huge part of the book, and people should know that going into the book. I don't think it was handled very well because once the people around Finley began noticing that something was wrong, they let her talk her way out of getting help. Now, I've never had an eating disorder, nor am I an expert on the subject. That being said, I thought it was a poor choice by the author to allow Finley's host family, especially Nora, to believe that Finley was simply stressed and tired. It makes sense that Finley would be in denial about it, but for her host family to not take more drastic measures to keep Finley from hurting herself...it just didn't make sense, and I really hate that part because it doesn't send a good message, especially to younger readers. This plotline was wrapped up...kind of. Once Finley finds the cross that her brother saw, she realizes that she needs help, and ends up telling her mother that she needs to come home. I don't know that this resolution of the eating disorder was really...satisfying to me, but I can't really put into words why.
- The way religion was handled at the end. This part is gonna be super spoilery, but it needs to be talked about, so if you don't want to know the end, just don't read this section.Throughout the book, Finley feels like God has abandoned her and that she is all alone in her grief. But once she finds the cross that her brother saw, she suddenly just feels God's presence and realizes that He was there all along. This can totally happen, and I don't mean to say that it can't, but the way the author presented this felt very much like a Christian spin on the "once I get what I want, I'll be happy" vibe. And that's just not what Christianity is about: It's about a relationship with God, and believing that He is who He says He is. It's not about getting what you want and THEN deciding to trust and believe and put your hope in Him. So yeah, I guess I can understand why the author had things play out that way, but I really don't like the message that it sends to young readers, or even new/young believers in God.
All in all, this was a fun, but also frustrating read. The first half really had me laughing, feeling, and rooting for the characters. But by about 2/3 of the way through, I was kinda done with the way certain things were handled (see above). So, if you want to read it, I think it's a fun read. But please make sure you check the trigger warnings beforehand, so you know what you're getting into.
Trigger warnings: Eating disorder (anorexia), grief, depression, death (mentioned, but happens before the book begins).
What I loved:
- Beckett and Finley's relationship. I love the enemies-to-lovers trope because it digs deeper than the surface-level insta-love trope. When you have two characters who hate each other, they have to learn how to like each other before they can love each other, and that really shows in this story. Furthermore, I appreciated that neither one of them ever really held back from telling the other person what they thought because that's a rare trait in a relationship nowadays.
- The setting. Ireland is a place I've always wanted to visit, so I loved every moment of the views, the tourist sites, and the landscape.
- Finley's host family. I love that this was a cross between "family" and "found family." It was really cool to watch Finley interact with Erin and the rest of the family.
What I didn't love:
- Finley's eating disorder. I don't know why this wasn't included in the blurb because it's a huge part of the book, and people should know that going into the book. I don't think it was handled very well because once the people around Finley began noticing that something was wrong, they let her talk her way out of getting help. Now, I've never had an eating disorder, nor am I an expert on the subject. That being said, I thought it was a poor choice by the author to allow Finley's host family, especially Nora, to believe that Finley was simply stressed and tired. It makes sense that Finley would be in denial about it, but for her host family to not take more drastic measures to keep Finley from hurting herself...it just didn't make sense, and I really hate that part because it doesn't send a good message, especially to younger readers. This plotline was wrapped up...kind of. Once Finley finds the cross that her brother saw, she realizes that she needs help, and ends up telling her mother that she needs to come home. I don't know that this resolution of the eating disorder was really...satisfying to me, but I can't really put into words why.
- The way religion was handled at the end. This part is gonna be super spoilery, but it needs to be talked about, so if you don't want to know the end, just don't read this section.
All in all, this was a fun, but also frustrating read. The first half really had me laughing, feeling, and rooting for the characters. But by about 2/3 of the way through, I was kinda done with the way certain things were handled (see above). So, if you want to read it, I think it's a fun read. But please make sure you check the trigger warnings beforehand, so you know what you're getting into.
Trigger warnings: Eating disorder (anorexia), grief, depression, death (mentioned, but happens before the book begins).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Death
emmasbookdiary's review against another edition
4.5
This book was soo good! I loved the characters, the Irish setting, the writing, all of it!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder and Grief
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