Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Highest Bidder by Sara Cate

6 reviews

gabi_w21's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to like this book. I really did. The other three that I’ve read in the Salacious Players, I’ve loved. But this one? Nope. Maybe it was how forceful and aggressive Ronan is when he finds out Daisy’s sleeping in her van and how he has NO boundaries with her, like when he gets pissed about her serving VIP or lets the French owner of a sex club flirt with her and doesn’t step on. Maybe it was just me but I hated the way the French kinky people were depicted as sexual deviants who don’t care about boundaries or respect relationships and how so much better Salacious is. And why were random people just staring at her and Ronan? As if they’d never seen an age gap couple before?? Or maybe Daisy constantly talking about her dead mom and how she wonders over the relationship of her mom and Ronan and how he’ll hate her if she tells him but that she knows she needs to. Cue them running circles around each other over the age gap, her admitting she needs to tell him and then turning around to have kinky sex, etc, etc. 
All in all, the other books were far more enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Death, and Car accident

And, even worse, the surprise pregnancy. The way Cate wrote the surprise pregnancy felt very…anti-choice to me. Sure, Daisy is 22, technically an adult, but she’s just barely starting therapy to move past her mom’s death and she just dealt with a massive stressor—breaking up with Ronan—and she wants the baby? She never mentioned wanting to be a mom once, so to me, she’s just beginning to live her life and, while she vaguely mentions that she “has options” there’s no real discussion of whether or not she wants to bring the pregnancy to term. And Ronan, who still heavily feels the loss of his wife and son, is just so over the moon his girlfriend that’s thirty-four years younger than is pregnant. I wish there’d been a deeper discussion instead of barely figuring her shit out Daisy deciding “yeah I want this baby!!”

_karinaiello_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

Unexpectedly emotional? Not sure I want to be crying about my own grief issues and the. Hot and bothered 10 seconds later by the steamy SPICY smut. Haha. 

For the "yes Daddy"/"baby girl" crowd.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Car accident, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

potalian's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Chronic illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer and Child death

bookmarkedtbr's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Chronic illness, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Car accident, and Death of parent

book_lover56's review against another edition

emotional tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, and Pregnancy

jessiereads98's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.0

Sara Cate’s writing just isn’t very strong. Daisy is a basic two dimensional main character who I found incredibly cringey. I had to read far too much about her songs that weren’t good. Ronan was likeable enough as a main character, but again very surface level with not a lot going on. Everything that happened was predictable.

Last, but certainly not least, surprise pregnancy trope is tired, never really a surprise to the reader, and just plain sucks. Authors should retire that one. Let alone surprise breeding kink.

This all could’ve been done without the weird detail that he had previously been in a relationship with her mother. The story realistically would’ve been the same if it was about two people working through their grief and unhealthy coping mechanisms.

It ultimately doesn’t end up being why they break up. They break up due to their individual issues they need to work through. (Which I guess Ronan just never does? We never see him work through any issues, and he himself says that he hasn’t.) The line at the end about Daisy picking up where her mother left off and their hearts beating for the same man is also just weird, and squicks me out.

Additionally, I don’t understand why Daisy’s musical aspirations are made such a big deal of.

Ultimately, she doesn’t go to music school like she dreamed, and it seems like nothing really comes of any music career for her. The impression I got was that she gave it up to be a mother to Ronan’s kids; which really makes Ronan’s comment about bringing a strong woman to her knees for him look bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Chronic illness

Minor: Child death, Medical content, Car accident, and Alcohol