Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - The Romance Recipe

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett

17 reviews

etinney's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.75

I promise the atrocious cover is misleading - this was a solid, enjoyable read. The characters' negative character traits created realistic tension in the relationship that was compounded by the other plot elements. The prose is very readable and free of major copyediting errors or glaring plot holes (an accomplishment for modern romance books). The spice scenes were well-written if they do trigger minor concerns regarding health code violations.

However, the forced third-act breakup was very rushed, which forced the other B-plots to be wrapped up quickly and in an unsatisfying way. I was particularly bothered by how Amy handles her relationship with her father.

Overall a good entry in the Sapphic romance genre though the insistence on a third-act breakup soured the ending for me.

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seventhswan's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.25

July’s read for book group. I liked the premise of this - I enjoy food, restaurants and cooking shows - but the execution left a lot to be desired. I am not a fan of the miscommunication trope, personally, and its liberal use really put me off Amy as a character. I liked Sophie a lot and wanted to protect her from Amy, not see them get together. We get it! She has trauma! But it felt gratuitous and like it was perpetuating the idea that people with trauma in their past are doomed to have volatile, emotionally unhealthy relationships.

I also thought the writing itself wasn’t great. There was a lot of repetition and not much consistency, and I struggled to differentiate between the PoVs at times. The sex scenes also had some elements that made little sense.

I have to give this book some credit for feeling fairly true to life - it was believable, even if I didn’t want to believe. But a romance novel should fill me with warm fuzzy feelings, and all I got from this was irritation.

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fivebyfreakingfive's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was an interesting trip. The characters were a smidge hard to like, but they still had me crossing my fingers and hoping everything turned out alright for them.

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alexalily's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted 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

4.0

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shaples's review against another edition

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soficool5's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing 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

3.5

This was a cute book! And the spicy scenes were *spicy* indeed, which was great.

The plot just kind of bored me, I had to take breaks and read something else in the middle.

It was not bad, and the writing was good, just maybe not so much for me…

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