Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Renovation Of Love by Meka James

3 reviews

babyfacedoldsoul's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective relaxing
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

An enjoyable book that handled some nuanced topics in a well done way. Some of the more intimate scenes had some wording choices that took me out of the book but I enjoyed reading this overall. 
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now_booking's review

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

3.0

It was okay… like pretty much an inoffensive, if a little bland, second chance romance featuring high school sweethearts who lose touch after Cynthia makes the heartbreaking decision to abandon her love Marcel with a Dear John letter after finding herself pregnant and deciding not to have the baby. There are themes here of difficult mother-daughter relationships with emotional abuse, gaslighting and manipulation, abortion, and issues around differences in fertility preference and decisions around not being a mother.

I didn’t feel like the characters were always as mature emotionally as they could have been or as careful with each other as they could have been-especially given this was a second chance romance. I don’t think Cynthia had to drag out opening up to Marcel that long and that tension between them was needed- the elephant in the room was obviously there from the moment they met and what felt unrealistic was the way they were dancing around it and pretending some relationship could exist between them at their big age without any closure. In fact, with the way things were revealed in the conflict with Cynthia’s mom, I’m not sure they ever actually had the conversation they actually needed to have which was the moment this book was waiting for. Ultimately I listened to this in audio and it was a fairly pleasant listen. I don’t know if I felt invested enough in this series to read the second book featuring the FMC’s friend but perhaps… I certainly didn’t dislike it and it was a pleasant enough low key read so I might check out more from this series at some point… maybe.
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naika's review

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emotional medium-paced

4.0

I really like second chance romances and Renovation of Love did not disappoint. Cynthia finds herself in a position where she must return to her small town of Madison Island. The return is a difficult one, as she left at a young age trying to escape situations that left her hurt, lost, and confused. Further complicating matters is the fact that Marcel, her high school sweetheart, is the construction worker her best friend, Regina, hired to help Cynthia renovate her late aunt's home. So much was left unresolved when Cynthia left over 20 years prior. 

There was a palpable push and pull; a will they, won't they. Seeing as this is a romance, it of course results in a will they. Although the story overall was satisfying for me, I sometimes felt overwhelmed by how wrapped up Cynthia was in her fears and insecurities. It was definitely  understandable why she behaved the way she did, but it felt like Marcel wasn't always given the room to be the rock he has always wanted to be for her.

I do look forward to the next book, as I liked how Regina's character was used throughout RoL.
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