Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings

73 reviews

bdingz's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

3.75

The characters felt real. I enjoyed the flower symbolism woven in. 

The “does she like me?” did grate on me after a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Death and Infidelity

I know Opal doesn’t describe her problematic relationship with alcohol as “alcoholism,” but it’s the closest CW I could include. She only goes into it a couple of times and she doesn’t consume alcohol over the course of the book.

somelitreference's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted

• 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

This was such a sweet, earnest romance book. The setup is a bit preposterous but I'm learning not to expect strict realism in romance. That aside, it's reflective, makes sense, and is sweet with a good bit of "spice".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment

bingypup's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Abandonment

Moderate: Death of parent and Toxic friendship

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, and Alcoholism

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Death, and Grief

Minor: Infidelity

laura_zebrazor's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.5

The fights between the main characters seem too juvenile for their age. The conflict is not very engaging. Fairly good handling of mental health. Overall cute but slow moving. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Addiction

bookmonster's review against another edition

emotional funny relaxing 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Ableism

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

funny inspiring lighthearted medium-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? Yes

3.0

This was a cute sapphic romance with neurodivergence characters that made me go "wow, yeah, same", to a lot of their habits. There's nothing overly complicated about the plot itself. It's simple, easy to follow, and fairly predictable but I enjoyed it especially when the characters stick it to the emotionally abuse people in their lives.

This one is definitely for the ones that love sapphic smut.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

katmcg910's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Abandonment

3readingcircus's review against another edition

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Author-included CWs!

etinney's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

I honestly might just make a bingo board of tropes/common occurrences within Sapphic romances because this is getting ridiculous. Late Bloomer was fine, but it is one in a series of Sapphic romances that feel almost like MadLibs (insert setting, character names, and lecture the author will give you). 

The page count already made me a bit suspicious because most romances, in my opinion, cannot sustain that page count without something unnecessary going on with the plot or writing. Here it was a bad case of telling and not showing of character traits. For example, Opal explains at the beginning of the book in excruciating detail about how much of a people pleaser she is, but the dialogue and her actions show that well. As the reader (and fellow people pleaser), it was frustrating to sit there and just think "okay we get it; move on please."

Besides that, we have a couple of other classic and irritating tropes that I find in Sapphic romances, such as *the author lectures the reader on a social issue*, *this fight is ridiculous*, and my absolute favorite *I don't think an editor read this* (e.g., hot chocolate and chestnut are two different hair colors).

Overall, this was fine. I can't comment on the authenticity of the neurodivergence representation of the novel, so I would read some own voices reviews for any feedback on that end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism and Emotional abuse