abbeyroad1410's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is the perfect fun, light summer read. The characters are well-developed, with their own unique quirks. It uses many tropes in fun ways. The sister relationship is very realistic with a lot of love but the typical sibling annoyance. The characters are diverse but treated normally, just letting them have their own stories with cultural elements worked in effectively.
On the other hand, Dane is the worst character in existence. He was so terrible, in fact, that I almost gave up on reading this otherwise very enjoyable book. Ethan is so kind, yet strong, that him defending Dane was also getting on my last nerve. There is a difference between sibling loyalty and choosing to remain ignorant to your sibling's shortcomings.
Additionally, a lot of this drama with Dane felt very rushed. It was mostly confined to the end of the novel (though hinted at prior), and therefore, felt too quickly resolved. I would have liked some time to sit with it and perhaps get a more complex view of what he was like so that I didn't just hate him.
Overall, a very good read that I could see taking to the beach at a later date.
On the other hand, Dane is the worst character in existence. He was so terrible, in fact, that I almost gave up on reading this otherwise very enjoyable book. Ethan is so kind, yet strong, that him defending Dane was also getting on my last nerve. There is a difference between sibling loyalty and choosing to remain ignorant to your sibling's shortcomings.
Additionally, a lot of this drama with Dane felt very rushed. It was mostly confined to the end of the novel (though hinted at prior), and therefore, felt too quickly resolved. I would have liked some time to sit with it and perhaps get a more complex view of what he was like so that I didn't just hate him.
Overall, a very good read that I could see taking to the beach at a later date.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity and Toxic relationship
laurawars's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Toxic relationship
leahfoko's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
3.0
This book was fun and cute, enjoyable enemies to lovers fluff. I don’t have a whole lot of unique stuff to say about it since it was what you would expect from an enemies to lovers romance but I am a sucker for enemies to lovers romance so I don’t have any complaints about that.
I do however have complaints with everything involving Dane. I was high key stressed by everyone gaslighting Olive about Dane. Spoiler territory about how this was resolved that I had issues with.
I loved Olive and Ami’s family, I found them all so wonderful and appreciated the latina main characters. I enjoyed the show down™️ at Ami’s house near the end. I love fake marriage tropes. I love enemies to lovers tropes. I enjoyed all this stuff. So overall I enjoyed the book. But that stuff with Ethan fully not believing Olive about his brother was just not it for me. 3 stars.
I do however have complaints with everything involving Dane. I was high key stressed by everyone gaslighting Olive about Dane. Spoiler territory about how this was resolved that I had issues with.
Spoiler
I will say what brought my rating down so far was that I felt the resolution between Olive and Ethan after the fallout of the literal gaslighting and not believing her about his dude bro brother that he was doing was kind of lackluster and incomplete feeling for me. I felt like he barely apologized for believing she was lying and gaslighting her basically about how she is just so negative and sees the negative in everyone. I was like, are you kidding me? Idk I felt like he said like one line about how he was going to regret not believing her for a long time and she was just like, okay that’s fine then. I felt like I needed more groveling from him or like a more thorough acknowledgment of what he did wrong and I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get that. I just felt like it wrapped up too fast. Also, it was always excused as “well he loves his brother and can’t imagine he’d do anything wrong” and I have two issues with this. One, if my brother was being a lil shit and doing what Dane was doing I would’ve immediately questioned him on it. I wouldn’t have just gone along with it because he’s my brother and I love him. I can sort of understand why he wouldn’t be inclined to believe Olive about the flirting thing at the bar who he hasn’t known as long because he could think she read it wrong but he has been around Dane all this time and should’ve known something was not adding up and called him on it. I don’t feel that brotherly love excuses it. And in that thread and context of the story is my second point. Olive was willing to acknowledge that maybe her sister had known about this and maybe she was wrong. Olive was willing to admit that she might be wrong and give him the benefit of the doubt. And he continued to do the wrong thing. Ethan wasn’t really giving Olive the benefit of the doubt ever. And then it just worked out at the end? I just really felt like he handled that whole thing horribly and the fact that they went back to normal happy trust almost immediately just drove me crazy. This relationship has already hit one of the biggest trust hurdles and they just said well, too bad, the sex is good? I just did not like the way their relationship got fixed way too easily.I loved Olive and Ami’s family, I found them all so wonderful and appreciated the latina main characters. I enjoyed the show down™️ at Ami’s house near the end. I love fake marriage tropes. I love enemies to lovers tropes. I enjoyed all this stuff. So overall I enjoyed the book. But that stuff with Ethan fully not believing Olive about his brother was just not it for me. 3 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Gaslighting, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Body shaming
bookswithlauren's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, and Sexism
dukeofkel's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting and Infidelity
Minor: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship
ekatayama's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- 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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Infidelity
Moderate: Body shaming
landrykey7's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Cursing
Minor: Sexual content
izzieisaloser's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
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
3.75
I truly feel no strong feelings towards this book I enjoyed reading it.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I think that Olive really needed the character development.
Also was Ethan completely dumb he thought that Dane leaving Ami on things like valentine’s day and their anniversary ment that Dane though that they had nothing planned??? And that they weren’t serious until HE PROPOSED!! Was he even listening to the bull shit he was spewing??
And when she saw her future boss why didn’t she pretend to be Ami and be like “yeh sorry definitely not Olive I’m Ami her twin sister” I feel like that would of work out 1000 times better?? Or am I just being dumb and that wouldn’t of worked??
I think Ethan proposing was cute. I think that books don’t always have to end with them getting engaged or married or having a baby but I think it fit for this one. You know with them being back where it started it’s cute.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I think that Olive really needed the character development.
Also was Ethan completely dumb he thought that Dane leaving Ami on things like valentine’s day and their anniversary ment that Dane though that they had nothing planned??? And that they weren’t serious until HE PROPOSED!! Was he even listening to the bull shit he was spewing??
And when she saw her future boss why didn’t she pretend to be Ami and be like “yeh sorry definitely not Olive I’m Ami her twin sister” I feel like that would of work out 1000 times better?? Or am I just being dumb and that wouldn’t of worked??
I think Ethan proposing was cute. I think that books don’t always have to end with them getting engaged or married or having a baby but I think it fit for this one. You know with them being back where it started it’s cute.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Vomit
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Gaslighting
jamespotterluv's review
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
it's not a bad book, perse. it's... readable. the overall concept is really good and i love a good enemies to lovers, but the execution was mediocre at best. the whole enemies to lovers trope wasn't written that well and when the plot twist came i was not surprised (and it felt like a waste of time.) there were a lot of stereotypes in the book that i didn't like at all. it was borderline lesbophobic w comments that were made abt ximena and the only confirmed gay character just felt like he was included for diversity points? how the authors portrayed him... i'm not going to get into how they portrayed olive's body since one of the authors is plus sized so they can probably speak on that. what they can't speak on is the hispanic culture (the main character is hispanic.) both authors are white and whilst i have no issue w culture being included, what bothers me is how they included it. we got a surname, a few spanish words, some stereotypes and that was it. it added nothing to the plot. don't get me started on ethan/olive's relationship and the portrayal of dane/ami. it's sanist too btw.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Misogyny, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
the authors rlly hate gay ppl what can i say.josiee's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Excrement