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dianaschmidty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Everything else about the book was a little lackluster. I liked the friends and I liked the possible continuation of a series for Delia and Gray, but the friends were a little too much sometimes, especially Jenna. I think that they meant well with the “makeover,” but that it went too far to the point of decreasing my enjoyment of the book.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading more books by this author in the future!
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Jayne Denker for providing me access to this book.
Graphic: Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
hrtlss_grl'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent
Very cute fade to black romance with diverse characters and a plot straight out of a rom-com movie. A nod to all the greats. :) Narrator was a little slow, but otherwise great at making characters stand out from each other._bookstamandy_'s review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Cancer, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
puria'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? Yes
It was well written, I often felt for Leah. There is LGBTQ characters, minority characters, strong female friendships. I liked the diverse group, like Leah it drew me in before Eli did.
Moderate: Cancer and Terminal illness
Minor: Death of parent and Abandonment
emmas_bookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cancer, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol
thesmutsister_emma's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Shoulda Had Duckie
So for starters, this was a pretty decent book. With that being said, I have opinions.
The first 35-40% of the book felt very slow to me. We were consistently shown that Eli was trying to get his ex back and that his friends deemed he had to jump through all of these hoops to be able to do so. That chunk of this book was simply used to show us Eli doing these things. There of course were some interactions with Leah, but one of them felt substantial.
Around the 40% mark, things picked up to be more of my speed. We saw more one on one time with Leah and Eli and saw more of their interactions outside of the group and it was adorable. I flew through this part of the book. From here until about the 75% part, I loved the book. It was so much fun and was so cute.
Yet, around the 75% mark, it started getting stale again. We were having the same issues over and over as well as just feeling like the book was droning on. I also felt like Leah and Eli had a stronger bond than to be having the issues they were having at this point in the book.
The last 10% of the book was pretty solid despite all of this.
The Final Verdict
I feel like this is a pretty decent book for the most part and I will definitely be recommending it to people who I know like these types of tropes within a book.
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Death of parent, and Abandonment
cover2covertx's review against another edition
4.0
The storyline is bittersweet but has a lot of fun, quirky moments mixed with a slow burn love story and a happily ever after worthy of the many rom coms referenced throughout the book. (LOVED that)
This one does handle some bigger topics such as death of a loved one, abandonment, foster care, mental health, & cancer but the author handled all of this issues very well and with respect.
Worth the read!
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer and Abandonment
Minor: Mental illness