Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

La fille d'à côté by Mariana Zapata

13 reviews

abicaro17's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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

Mariana puts out bangers only. Diana is a single hairstylist who has custody of her recently deceased brother's kids. Dallas is her grumpy and married (but separated) neighbor. After saving his brother from getting mugged, Diana and Dallas gradually become friends. This is the slow burn of slow burns baby. Like 3/4 of the book was like hugging and stolen glances. Between the adorable family/bonding moments between Di and the kids, Dallas and his knitting, and the insane chemistry it was hard to put down. I laughed, I cried, I giggled and I would definitely read again! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

n_malin_p's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective relaxing 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

hapalyn's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

• 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

4.0

This one was definitely high on my list of Mariana's books! 

Read for: 
-Minor character crossovers! (Kulti, The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, and Under Locke) it was cute to see Sal/Reiner, Vanessa/Adrien, and the brief brief mention of Iris/Dex! 
-Slowwww burn (of course) 
-Single mom
-Mexican rep 

Bonuses I loved:
-No 3rd act breakup!!!!!!! Mariana is alwaaaays amazing at having realistic conflict without a ton of miscommunication and ridiculous breakups <33!! Loved the lack of drama in this book. 

The relationship between these characters was fleshed out so so well and the kids surprisingly were also super fun and enjoyable to read about (as someone who hates pregnancy tropes and stuff! there's no pregnancy trope aside from epilogue). If you can enjoy a slow 400+ pages of relationship building then this book is 100% for you! If you hate long romances, this isn't going to be for you (and I'd recommend Devney Perry's work instead). However, this book is worth the 400+ :)! So so enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

emilyfrenchie's review against another edition

funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

apolen's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

kb33's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I want a Dallas. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Violence

michmoo's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Drug use, Racism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

venetiana's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.0

The slow burn is good. But there's also some toxic/red flag behaviour which really didn't need to be there (it literally didn't need to be part of the plot, this was used for accentuating loyalty).

[The author also (afaik) appropriates the term "spirit animal" and I'm not sure how far the lines are blurred concerning colloquialisms. Some expressions rubbed me the wrong way.]

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Infidelity, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Stalking

cup_of_rosie's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted slow-paced

• 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Pregnancy

andeng's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad slow-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Pregnancy