diana_raquel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I must confess that I was reticent about this book. Not because it used to be star wars fanfiction (I only discover that after buying the book) but because it is a popular book. Popular books are 50/50 to me, and I'm always reticent about starting one. But I really liked it.
As far as romances go, this isn't the best romance that I ever read. But it's damn entertaining and I was engaged all the time. And that makes all the difference to me. It's a little cliché at some points but there are some plot points that caught me by surprise. The characters are interesting and funny, which was also a good point for me!
So, I really liked this book, and I do recommend it if you want something light and entertaining. Its a really good beach read.
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Sexual assault, Cursing, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Vomit, and Bullying
meganpbennett's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Well, it was quite good, and fell into several tropes that I really like, including fake dating and real feels. It features demi-sexuality rep, Jewish rep, and Olive discovered a lot about herself and what she really wants in life as the story goes on. There were aspects I thought could be better, but it was fun. Olive was witty and incredibly genre-savvy, and while Adam was pretty one-dimensional, he does grow a fair amount as a character.
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Cancer, Death of parent, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Acephobia/Arophobia, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Classism, and Mental illness
thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Cancer
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
"jokes" about diabetes, animal testingjessthanthree's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Misogyny
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, and Alcohol
vaguely_pink'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
4.5
Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cancer, Gaslighting, Classism, Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Cursing
Minor: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Grief
iksme's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia and Sexual harassment
reads2cope's review against another edition
4.0
Spoiler
the steamy scene in which I hated how often her skinniness was brought up? And while I loved the ace/demi rep, why did Olive have to explain it by saying her “brain is broken” to be that way. Disappointing. Finally, I wish there was more to the revelations after they got together. I wanted to hear Adam talk about what he overhears Olive say about how she was falling for him and I wanted a more in-depth conversation of how Olive used their first meeting to get her through to their relationship and when she realized it was Adam specifically.Graphic: Sexual harassment and Sexism
Moderate: Bullying and Death of parent
Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia
cerilouisereads'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
4.0
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Acephobia/Arophobia
ayah_reads's review
4.5
This makes me wish we had SO MANY MORE NOVELS SENT IN UNIVERSITY OR ACADEMIA 😭😭😭
I absolutely LOVE that the STEM academia backdrop of this story comes right from the author's own experience. I'm an undergrad, with a sister in postgrad, so when I began reading this it felt bizarrely accurate to what I tangentially know of academia and I was really impressed and loved how Olive being a biology PhD student was large part of her character and the plot. The setting was not just a background for the romcom story, and then I found out the author is a professor in neuroscience, and it made so much sense!! So so wonderful to see it.
I loved that it really exposed academia for what it is, the overworking, underpaid, often times toxic work environment it can be. I feel like the mainstream public often sees academia as something shiny and amazing when there really is a lot of issues with it. Intertwining that with a romcom story was gold.
I found it hilarious that Olive knew the fake dating trope but it seemed to completely forget the feelings that always arise from it in every romcom ever 😂
A few issues with the book tho and some spoilers below:
I did wish they had fake dated longer than a month ish, because then we could have had that time to be like okay yes I see this relationship developing and them falling in love. But that's often a romcom vibe so I just let it slide.
Problem my biggest irksome is that Olive is clearly demisexual but she would often describe her experiences as being "werid" and not like "normal people". She even mentions contemplating being asexual but then it's never mentioned again, so clearly there is some awareness of this term existing. I wished we had either Olive already know she was demisexual / on the ace spectrum (as in know there was a term for what she felt), or understood her experiences to be normal and valid or throughout the course of the novel come to find the term herself. At the very least the comments about her being "werid" shouldn't have been in this book. I'm not asexual however so I can't speak further on the representation, I just wished those comments were either addressed or not included at all.
All in all, I'm definitely keen to read more STEM academic romcoms from this author! 🤩
Graphic: Sexism and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia
bootsmom3's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Death of parent, Medical content, and Classism