Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Accidentally in Love by Danielle Jackson

3 reviews

beth_s98's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this one more than the first book; I thought the romance was more solid than in the first novel. There were a few quirks/phrases in the writing that appeared frequently enough to start to bug me, but overall I recommend!!
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shesreadingagain_'s review against another edition

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challenging lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I truthfully could not connect with the female main character. She was consistently whiny and while I appreciate the representation of a fat black woman with a chronic illness, it felt very YA to me. I don’t think I would recommend this book strictly because thee main character and her love interest had a lot of growing up to do. 
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bookishmillennial's review

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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
 disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews, I feel like a peasant and don’t like leaving them and most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless if I add stars or not. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

Premise:
-contemporary romance told in third-person POV
-second book in an interconnected series of standalone romances
-office manager of Chicago's leading boudoir photography business, Samantha Sawyer, has a busy summer ahead of her!
-However, Russell Montgomery, her best friend's fiance's brother, has been in town for a year now and has become enamored with Sam
-Russ continues to ask Sam out until she finally gives him a chance and since he is leaving in the fall to attend culinary school in New York City, they decide to "let the summer play out"
-Russ has been emailing his mom (who abandoned him and his brother when they were young) for years, updating her on his life and his feelings
-Sam's absent father comes back into her mom's life and she navigates uncomfortable feelings about allowing him back into hers, and getting to know him again
-Sam was diagnosed with Graves' disease and is confront the internalized fatphobia she has about her new body now that she's gained a bit of weight
-steam: 1.5/5 (sex is described, but nothing toooooo explicit)
-tropes: grumpy x sunshine, friends-with-benefits, summer-fling
-cw: fatphobia, diet culture, tame sexual content, abandonment, neglect, familial trauma

Thoughts:
I really wanted to love this! I loved the premise of a summer fling between two people who clearly had more interest than they were letting on. However, I struggled with a few things:
  • the pacing: I knew this took place over a summer but sometimes, I didn't realize that it wasn't "the next day" until I saw text saying "two weeks passed". It felt hard to follow, and hard to believe there couldn't be any text exchanges in between that time passing?
  • the internalized fatphobia of Sam was rough. I totally empathize, because gaining weight in an unforgiving society that treats fat people horribly is not fun. It's a struggle and you have to unlearn a LOT when it comes to the ingrained diet culture and messaging that we all perpetuate. However, it was frustrating that Sam didn't fully challenge her internalized fatphobia. I recognize no one is perfect and that of course, even with a fat best friend who is the face of confidence, you can still have body image issues. I think it's realistic but I only wish it was more explicitly challenged and body neutrality had come into play.
  • the way all of their friends and the leads made Russ' big reveal of going to culinary school in New York such a big deal? Why is that Sam's business and why does she deserve to know immediately? Yes, they're friends but not all of my friends are entitled to all of my life decisions immediately.

    I did enjoy the found family of this group. It's clear that this group of friends love each other more than anything and that they lift each other up and empower one another. This is the type of friends group I'd love to be a part of (I moreso have friends that I hang out with 1:1 because they're all from separate parts of my lives, which I'm grateful for, but when I see friends groups like this, I get envious haha). I think this group of friends would be fun to watch on TV and maybe that would be a better format for all of their stories to shine.
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