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buttermellow's review
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
Minor: Misogyny and Sexual harassment
caitlincrtr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Car accident
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content and Violence
lizzieb29's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia
louisa_pennyfeather2021's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
In all seriousness, it's a great book. I started reading it because of my love for football and Mariana's work. I love how(like in so much of Mariana's work) each character has depth and purpose. The real world details factored into this fictional romance adds some flare. I really enjoyed this read.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Sexual harassment
booknerdbetty's review against another edition
3.25
Things I liked - slow burn to build an emotional connection, showing their growing love through their actions in the second half of the book, character background, and more.
Room for improvement - There were typos, easy grammar mistakes, using a similar-sounding word instead of the word that should’ve been used (think of using excess instead of access; that’s not an exact example from the book, but along those lines). The first 48% of the book also just seemed to be internal monologue and setting the scene - I really think it could’ve been condensed down to about 6 chapters maximum, and improved a lot with more editing. There was also frequent underlying or blatant misogyny, sexual assault, and fatphobia.
Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Sexual assault
victorianbsilva'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? No
4.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Medical content, and Abandonment
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
a99's review against another edition
Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia
howlinglibraries's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
- Vanessa laughing until she cries when Aiden is groped without consent by a fan (stop normalizing the idea that it's "acceptable" or anything less than sexual assault when a man is harassed, even if he's a famous and attractive celebrity)!
- When Vanessa finds out a loved one is being abused by their significant other, her entire inner monologue for several chapters isn't "I can't believe my loved one is being abused, how can I help them?" but is instead "how dare they lie to me about this?" and is ridiculously, painfully self-absorbed and victim-shaming.
- Vanessa's older sisters are VERY abusive towards her, but Vanessa blames FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorders) for causing their violent and abusive tendencies, which is an immensely ableist and hurtful stereotype that a LOT of people with FASD have to deal with in the real world.
- There is a lot of fat-phobia that never gets properly addressed.
Other than feeling bad for her terrible childhood, I struggled with liking Vanessa as a character more often than not, and I couldn't bring myself to care about Aiden until waaay too far into the book. We learn some of his motives, of course, but I didn't feel that any of them ever actually explained his behavior or redeemed his treatment of Vanessa in the first half of the book. The chemistry between the two of them felt forced, and even by the time they finally got together (literally at 95% through the book — I love a slow burn, but damn), I think my emotions were less joy at seeing them confess their love for each other, and more relief at having finally finished this immensely disappointing book.
I can objectively see why so many people love this book, I think, but it didn't work as well for me as I hoped it would. If I had rated this the moment I finished the book, I might have given it 3 or 3.5 stars, but after sleeping on it, I have too many issues with it on a lot of levels, and to be totally honest, it's reminded me of why, despite loving the only other MZ book I read (Dear Aaron) years ago, I've been very hesitant to pick up more of her books. This book is older than that one was, and I'm open to trying another newer release of hers, but I think I'll probably leave Zapata's backlist alone for now.
✨ Representation: Vanessa's best friend is Latinx
✨ Content warnings for: memories of severe domestic abuse, claustrophobia, nyctophobia (extreme fear of the dark), alcoholic parents, absent parents, memories of foster homes, body-shaming, victim-shaming of domestic and sexual abuse survivors, ableism, "jokes" about sexual harassment
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
thefatpaperback's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia
charm0nix's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, and Abandonment