Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

63 reviews

kcrockford's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility

Moderate: Death

Minor: Blood

mirandaburel's review against another edition

emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

3.0

This book is an interesting read. In the one hand there were things I really liked (josh, primarily) and other things I really didn’t (the entire existence of Tyler, the purposeful miscommunication). Sometimes this book reached for 4 stars and other times I wanted to rate it a 2. 

I think the author’s note gave a lot of insight and empathy toward the fertility plot line. but the pacing of it, the way Kristen refused to have a proper conversation about it with Josh, the late OCD reveal (which makes a lot of sense and makes me think she’s an unreliable narrator and almost want to reread it through that lens)… to me it was just frustrating to read. I feel like a lot of things could have been explored more but were brushed aside to make it a ~romance~. 

Speaking of the romance…again I have mixed feelings. I think they had great chemistry, but they also fell for each other ridiculously quickly. I feel like the central conflict being her fertility would have been better than if it was just that. But instead she had this not-exactly-cheating plot line with Tyler and Josh (that  led to her eventual pregnancy iirc), and Tyler’s proposal, her “thinking about it” only to immediately refuse. It’s just felt unnecessary when the central conflict could have just been her working through her health issues while grappling with her growing feelings for Josh. (To be clear, a lot of time is still spent in that conflict, but it felt  like stonewalling and not actual progress). 

Them the thing with alone and Brandon….felt gratuitous. Now that I know it’s a setup for book 2 it makes sense, but it was A Choice for the third act conflict and i just didn’t really like it! 

TLDR this book tried to do too much, instead of digging deep with the most interesting bits. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Blood, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Vomit, Alcohol, and Classism

jillaay_h's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Pregnancy

ssyme's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Infertility and Medical content

Moderate: Death, Blood, Grief, and Car accident

sjurkiewicz's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infertility, Blood, and Car accident

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Medical content

sarahac's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Infertility and Sexual content

Minor: Blood and War

senga15's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Medical content

Minor: Miscarriage, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

honesty_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

TW: Major character death, car accident

I understand not wanting to give away the plot but this DEFINITELY needed a TW!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

emlo23's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

1.0

All I can say is that if I had read this Abby Jimenez book first I never would've read another. I really enjoyed Part of Your World and so I thought I would dip into the backlist, but I hugely regret it. This book has so many issues
- misogynistic as fuck MMC
- pick me "not like other girls" FMC
- the communication issues in this book were soooooooo drawn out and unnecessary
- sex scenes were really basic he has a giant magic dick shit
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Kristen basically gaslights Josh for 2/3 of the book about their feelings for each other

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everything with Brandon???? That came out of nowhere and was so epically sad. The medical content around his injuries was unnecessarily explicit and traumatic. This book is marketed as a romcom with some infertility issues for conflict but actually needed MAJOR trigger warnings for Brandon's accident and death

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magical miracle pregnancy are you kidding me?!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infertility, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism

sophia_bd's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Many tears were shed on this emotional rollercoaster of a book! This was my second read (after Just for the Summer) by Abby Jimenez and I can confidently say I’m a fan. She strikes such a great balance of lightheartedness and deep emotion (with a tasteful dose of spice) that makes me want to read more and more! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood and Car accident