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cibani's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief, Addiction, Death, Eating disorder, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail
lizziaha's review against another edition
funny
3.5
Love the concept, hated the characters. I was also frustrated by the somewhat (pointlessly) non-linear storytelling, which made the pacing of the book a bit funky. I’m also not usually a miscommunication hater, but it really didn’t work for me in this book. It felt very lopsided, which just made me extra annoyed at one of the characters. Despite that, this book was funny, I was rooting for the romance, and the side plots with Sawenee’s friends and family were interesting and at times even more compelling than the main romance. At times it felt like Whelan was writing different accents/scenes into the book just to have a fun time/a challenge in narration, which made the audiobook really fun to listen to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, and Ableism
Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent
Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Eating disorder
amgraves's review against another edition
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Dementia
Minor: Eating disorder
texashippie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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
Content Warnings
Minor: Eating disorder, Death, Ableism, Grief, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Blood
alykate's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, and Dementia
Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Addiction, and Eating disorder
rai_ishardtoplease's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-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
3.5
“Somehow, far beyond her ability to comprehend exactly how, something seemingly so much less became so much more.”
- This book, in a nutshell.
- This book, in a nutshell.
As a romantically cynical woman with very visible scarring, estranged parents, and a complicated relationship with her emotionally unavailable father… this felt like a personal attack.
For most people, though, I’d say that TYFL has the same energy as the cosmic love child of a poet’s overwritten diary and a self-deprecating inside joke.
So, like, Emily Henry meets V.E. Schwab. Or maybe Nicholas Sparks meets Taylor Jenkins Reid. Hell, throw them all into a blender and call it a literary smoothie.
And I’ll be damned if this doesn’t get optioned and become a box office hit. This is precisely the kind of story that Hollywood goes feral over. The Romcom Movie Renaissance would finally hit its stride.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Dementia
Moderate: Death and Chronic illness
Minor: Racism, Cancer, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness
sarahsthoughtsonbooks's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Fine line between contemporary fiction and romance. Not well balanced between the two. It doesn't lean one way or the other, but neither is really developed enough. Great idea, but could be better executed? Not that it was flawed, but I wanted more. It just felt a bit rush. I think that's what it is, that there seemed to be a medium pace that was going well, and then part was just rushed. Which caused it to feel lacking.
Also, both protagonists seem to hate romance genre. Makes me wonder if Julia has a second, lesser known pseudonym that she recorded some romance under (like her Sophie Eastlake stuff send to be mainly two authors)
Also, both protagonists seem to hate romance genre. Makes me wonder if Julia has a second, lesser known pseudonym that she recorded some romance under (like her Sophie Eastlake stuff send to be mainly two authors)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma
Minor: Eating disorder and Body shaming
cady_sass's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.0
I am *very* picky about audiobooks, to the point that I know it’s unfair and illogical and so I tend to not listen to them at all, but I like Julia Whalen. A lot. I find her very talented and enjoyable to listen to. Now, bring me a book of written by an audiobook narrator ABOUT audiobook narrators and it seems only fair (and totally obvious) that it need to be consumed via audio. Right? So, of course, I did. Now please refer back to my comment about being unfairly judgmental and illogically picky about audiobooks and take my review with a grain of salt. I believe this book is good and if I had read it on page I would’ve loved it more, possibly. The characters are unique and flawed and diverse, the banter is funny and witty and cute. BUT…. But… you can tell an audiobook narrator wrote this. There are characters who exist solely for the purpose of the narrator [author] showing off her skills in accents. Which, for the record, is good (with the exception of the Bostonian ex boyfriend with the most horrendous Boston accent I’ve ever hear and take person offense to), but there’s no real reason for them. I also have mixed feelings about a white author writing about the plight of a black woman in Hollywood… but it does seem (to me, another white woman, to note) to be handled somewhat carefully. Just perhaps not her story to tell, again, as a white woman who was a former actress. I guess all this to say some of this felt inauthentic but it’s hard to parse that from what I HEARD and wish I would’ve just read the book 🤷🏻♀️ don’t come for me. I still gave it 4 stars!! There’s quality story here and a lot of fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Dementia, Sexual content, Racism, Suicide, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Self harm, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Drug use, and Suicide attempt
maethereader's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Oh, I struggle with how to rate & review this. I was SO enjoying this book at first. I honestly laughed out loud a few times. I'm not a huge romance person, but I really enjoyed the banter in the beginning and through the epistolary section. I enjoyed the story lines about other characters like her best friend, parents, grandma. And I enjoyed learning about audiobook narration.
But... once these two met, it all fell apart for me. I suddenly didn't understand the characters' motivations for basically the rest of the novel... On top of that, all of the smaller storylines seemed to wrap up very quickly, which I found unrealistic and unnecessary.
And I'm not sure how to feel about the inclusion of this disability trope. It feels like it was just a device used by the author for a convenient storyline, and the character's handling of it, thinking about it, processing it, as well as that of her friends and family just did not ring true to me at all (coming from someone who became disabled as a young adult). Did Whalen talk to anyone who had gone through something like this? I hope so, but honestly it doesn't seem like it. So that's really disappointing. Disabled characters only included in books when it's convenient to make a storyline out of their disability... ugh.
Listened to this on audiobook and narration was great (obviously!).
But... once these two met, it all fell apart for me. I suddenly didn't understand the characters' motivations for basically the rest of the novel... On top of that, all of the smaller storylines seemed to wrap up very quickly, which I found unrealistic and unnecessary.
And I'm not sure how to feel about the inclusion of this disability trope. It feels like it was just a device used by the author for a convenient storyline, and the character's handling of it, thinking about it, processing it, as well as that of her friends and family just did not ring true to me at all (coming from someone who became disabled as a young adult). Did Whalen talk to anyone who had gone through something like this? I hope so, but honestly it doesn't seem like it. So that's really disappointing. Disabled characters only included in books when it's convenient to make a storyline out of their disability... ugh.
Listened to this on audiobook and narration was great (obviously!).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide attempt, and Death
cristinareading's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
reflective
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Dementia
Moderate: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, and Racism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship