thelittlesnowdrop's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This story is so messy 🫨🤭! A love triangle (questionably a love quad?), new experiences (love this), toxic friendships (don't love this), & then many turns were taken... Other topics include mental illness, suicidal thoughts, bullying, physical abuse... phew. I think these are important topics to highlight, but I do wish the author dove further into this because it felt brushed over.
As far as the characters go, I do like that the main characters, Ever, Sophie, Rick & Xavier, have decent character arcs. I'm not going to dive into all the characters, but I think Xavier had the best character development - I was surprised by this at the end!! The author really had me in the first half 😮💨
Nevertheless, this was a fun read & I found it refreshing to read this!
As a side note: I watched Loveboat in Taipei & I wish they made this book into a series instead of a movie! Why? I would have loveddd to see more of the backstory of the characters. Plus, I like the book ending better lol. Still a cute movie though - so, go watch on Paramount+! 🫡
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Physical abuse and Racial slurs
courtnoodles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Violence, Sexual content, Vomit, and Infidelity
Moderate: Medical content, Sexual assault, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Racism
Minor: Racial slurs and Blood
princessm's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Body shaming, Chronic illness, and Classism
isitcertain's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Racism, and Sexual assault
Minor: Suicide attempt and Racial slurs
heatherjchin's review against another edition
I got through half this novel before reading some reviews and spoilers because I had to see if all the guesses I had for the story trajectory and character development would come true and yup, they would. And actually ended up worse than I’d imagined. So I jumped to the end and decided to count this as a full Read here to give myself credit for reading through what turned out to be a trope-filled, caricature-heavy, shallow, problematic relationships on all levels, and unrootable-for protagonist novel.
The author does a good job with capturing the headiness and messiness of adolescence and young adulthood, and the emotional struggle between personal and parental dreams, but I couldn’t get past the framing of a lot of toxic relationship dynamics and decisions as just mistakes, excusable, not needing accountability or even to be taken seriously.
I also feel like readers who are not from the Chinese American and Asian American communities would find this more entertaining than many of us who live with the weight of these stereotypes daily.
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Car accident, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Classism, Mental illness, and Sexual content
mandkips's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Racism
Moderate: Sexual content, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Racial slurs
blank_space_forever's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Sexual assault and Toxic friendship
Minor: Toxic relationship and Racial slurs
internationalreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Racism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia
maple_dove's review
- 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
Graphic: Alcohol, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Racial slurs
Profanityava_cowbell's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts