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bridge_to_narnia's review against another edition
Firstly, this book starts cute; I like the characterization and while I am not often a fan of duel points of view, this is interesting insight into each love interest’s backstory. They are both fully fleshed out, with motives for their actions that make sense, and they each have different types of worries that affect their life.
Secondly, a childhood enemies to lovers story is a great cliche. I more like childhood rivals to lovers, but enemies can be good as well. So, off to a great start.
Here comes why I ended up DNF-ing it, which it’s been a little while since I read it, and I kept telling myself I would go back to it, but my library copy had to be returned and I am to lazy to put myself back on the waitlist.
While the writing is wonderful and I like the characters, there was not mention of a humiliation game in the summary and I do not like embarrassment whatsoever. Even a hint of it. This planned drawn out embarrassment immediately turned me off the story and while I did love the characters (so I kept telling myself I’d go back), I can’t handle it, especially planned harassment. The rest of this I’m going to put behind spoilers:Courtney and Sophie were childhood rivals in a rich boarding school with Courtney having a scholarship and Sophie being ‘new money’. This meant neither of them were on the top of the totem pole. Sophie’s mean old money friend outs Courtney before she knows she is ace and accuses a teacher of being in a relationship with Courtney at the same time. Sophie know this is big time wrong and tries to retaliate against her friend, even promising Courtney she would fix it, but is browbeaten by her Dad who needs a ‘cash infusion’ to his business from old money families (while still reeling from her mother’s tragic passing a few years ago). Courtney is let down and Sophie can’t explain, rivals turn to enemies and life moves on. There is never an extreme embarrassment scene (as of the end of chapter 12) in the flashbacks, just very tragic misunderstandings. The story starts with Courtney as an adult who works on an ace help/hotline and takes the call of Sophie (freshly out of an abusive marriage to a man and in hiding away from him) who thinks she might be asexual. Courtney recognizes Sophie, but doesn’t say anything because Sophie is calling for help. This is also not the awful bit. Sophie moves in with her stepmother (who was only married to her dad for a small time before he died) to hide from her soon to be divorced from ex because he is after her. Courtney lives in the same building and doesn’t know this, vows to drive her out by, very badly, pretending there is a ghost in the building. This is have lead to a great moment where Sophie confides about her ex and her fears to Courtney and them reconciling the different traumas they went through, but instead Courtney’s friends convince her to ask Sophie to create a prank war reality tv show (because Courtney knows that Sophie always wanted to be an actress) in the hopes to get revenge on Sophie, with an agreement put in place that justifies the harassment, probably full of evil editing to make Sophie look bad and force Sophie to move as well. This is awful. I hate prank wars. I hate harassment via prank wars.
I hate everything about the round about way this revenge is happening, especially as we the reader know that Sophie wasn’t responsible, couldn’t explain the awful pressure and is on the run an living in terror that her soon-to-be-ex might find her. I hate everything about this. Obviously, I DNFed when Courtney started filming herself for the first harassment/prank. I just couldn’t get past this.
This book is perfect for someone, but not me.
Secondly, a childhood enemies to lovers story is a great cliche. I more like childhood rivals to lovers, but enemies can be good as well. So, off to a great start.
Here comes why I ended up DNF-ing it, which it’s been a little while since I read it, and I kept telling myself I would go back to it, but my library copy had to be returned and I am to lazy to put myself back on the waitlist.
While the writing is wonderful and I like the characters, there was not mention of a humiliation game in the summary and I do not like embarrassment whatsoever. Even a hint of it. This planned drawn out embarrassment immediately turned me off the story and while I did love the characters (so I kept telling myself I’d go back), I can’t handle it, especially planned harassment. The rest of this I’m going to put behind spoilers:
I hate everything about the round about way this revenge is happening, especially as we the reader know that Sophie wasn’t responsible, couldn’t explain the awful pressure and is on the run an living in terror that her soon-to-be-ex might find her. I hate everything about this. Obviously, I DNFed when Courtney started filming herself for the first harassment/prank. I just couldn’t get past this.
This book is perfect for someone, but not me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Acephobia/Arophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent
alexxcp's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Domestic abuse
dododenise's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Wow this was shit.
Nothing in this book worked. Nothing. I’m honestly a bit in awe by that.
The characters were so unlikable. They were acting like unethical assholes the entire time, were stuck up or were just otherwise written in ways to make it impossible to like them. There was no spark in their relationships. Nothing was worked out. Nothing was properly developed.
The plot was stuffed by a bunch of stuff. It felt like the author was afraid she would run out of things to write about and kept throwing new ideas into the story. In the end, nothing was resolved. The book didn’t deal with any of the things it attempted in an appropriate manner.
Nothing in this book worked. Nothing. I’m honestly a bit in awe by that.
The characters were so unlikable. They were acting like unethical assholes the entire time, were stuck up or were just otherwise written in ways to make it impossible to like them. There was no spark in their relationships. Nothing was worked out. Nothing was properly developed.
The plot was stuffed by a bunch of stuff. It felt like the author was afraid she would run out of things to write about and kept throwing new ideas into the story. In the end, nothing was resolved. The book didn’t deal with any of the things it attempted in an appropriate manner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Violence and Stalking
sinoush's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- 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
2.5
This was a wild ride and I definitely wasn't expecting that. It was honestly fun to read but overall way too messy for my liking, and there were too many topics thrown in without giving them much attention. I wish the ending would have been a little bit longer because I feel like many questions about the character's lives were left unanswered.
I recommend it if you're looking for a silly and quick read with ace representation and characters that have *a lot* going on in their lives.
TW for acephobia, mention of eating disorders and stalking
I recommend it if you're looking for a silly and quick read with ace representation and characters that have *a lot* going on in their lives.
TW for acephobia, mention of eating disorders and stalking
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Eating disorder, Violence, and Stalking
cheesepuppy's review
emotional
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
I love all the info and details that are taught through this book though it does seem like that was the main goal. I think this would be a great book to introduce acespec to allo folks. This could have felt like a skit written by a school counselor but it didn’t. There were so many things covered and I loved how well they were handled. And on top of that there’s a cute romantic story.
I do wish there had been better distinguishing between flashbacks and current time. Flashbacks in all italics was a bit rough to read and not obvious at first thag it meant something.
I do wish there had been better distinguishing between flashbacks and current time. Flashbacks in all italics was a bit rough to read and not obvious at first thag it meant something.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, and Violence
Minor: Chronic illness, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, and Toxic friendship
delphine_'s review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Death of parent
samchase112's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
- 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
2.5
Cheers to great asexual rep! The best parts of this book were definitely the portions where Courtney was discussing aspects of the ace spectrum and complexities of identity--so much so that I honestly wish this author had just written a Q&A for asexuality rather than trying to force the lessons into a novel. There were just so many different plotlines going on at once, and there was no time to really catch up to the characters or understand what was happening. And the flashback scenes were truly just uncomfortable to witness. If the book had just focused on one central plot rather than so many disparate elements, I think it would make for a better story: I loved certain elements, but they just became lost among the shuffle sometimes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Acephobia/Arophobia
tanouska's review against another edition
4.5
I really enjoyed reading this. The use of the helpline in the story, meant giving a reader a view of the kinds of problems and opinions an ace person can face, without having it all happen to the main characters.
I would have liked for some parts of the storylines to have a bit more closure at the end of the book, some things feel rather open, and others a bit abrupt.
I would have liked for some parts of the storylines to have a bit more closure at the end of the book, some things feel rather open, and others a bit abrupt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Biphobia and Stalking