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marieeveparentroy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
sammykat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A family drama with romance, mystery and sibling relationships. The book was fun and lighthearted despite some darker themes of prison, drugs, death, animal gore and the characters were interesting and had good depth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Violence, Vomit, and Death of parent
katben2232's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Violence
alanamccausland's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-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? Yes
3.25
Enjoyed the beginning. Hoped for more throughout. The middle dragged on. Didn’t like the ending - it felt abrupt. Good writing but I could tell it was a debut novel. Nice plot ideas but not always developed enough. Kinda cheesy in a bad way at times.. predictable. Craved more from the characters. *Forgiving yourself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Animal cruelty and Cancer
jg34's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
It was an ok story but I couldn’t get past the main conflict. I get that drug and crime issues in general are not just black and white and right and wrong and perhaps it was a brash decision but the whole “it’s all Natalie’s fault” thing doesn’t work for me. the fact that still after 15 years Jake and Lynn don’t take responsibilities for their own actions is mind boggling. I get them being mad while they are young and maybe even though out their sentence but to hold a grudge for that long??? Like the fact that they were actively engaging in illegal activities is definitely not at all the reason they were sent to prison? I guess it gets complicated with Carlos and I understand some guilt around that but everyone is at fault for that, not just Natalie. How would she know that he would do what he did. And she didn’t even really call the cops because of the drugs she called because her sister was hurt and her brother was too lit to do anything to help. They never in 15 years considered how scary that was for Natalie? Or the fact that she was basically still a child???????? That would be so traumatizing to see your siblings doing heroin and then all the aftermath on top of it! Idk it doesn’t track for me even the mom basically exiling her. Natalie took way too much shit for one “mistake” if you can even call it one. really ruined the book for me I kept waiting for a proper reconciliation but I didn’t think it was good enough
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
erebus53's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.25
I picked up this one as a Big Library Read book. Libby sets things up so there are unlimited library eCopies of the book to download digitally (including Audiobook versions). Looking at the cover I presumed it might be pretty corny, but I was pleasantly surprised.
I was surprised to find myself as the target audience. The main character is a woman who has been settling for much of her life and has never chased up on her passion projects. She has allowed her partner to belittle her efforts and has fallen into a rut where it is normal for him to be the controlling partner in her life. When 2 life changing influences coincidentally shake her life up, she is given the headspace to reassess what she is doing with her life.
The main character is someone who is interested in drawing biological specimens. I vibed with her whole habit of finding cool minibeasts or bits of broken animal and wanting to keep records of them. FOR SCIENCE! I deeply identified with the feeling of having others disgusted by the objects of your fascination, wanting to get pictures of dead birds' feet, and also the problem of having baby mantises accidentally hatch in your bedroom.. or.. all over your bedroom.
This is also a story of family reconciliation. Getting an estranged family back together again as part of a family bequest makes this an inheritance story with some cool twists. It's got a lot more trauma than I was expecting. The sister is a kick-ass goth who is a trained mortician. I think I can see a theme in the way this family works.
Didn't really expect it to be so focused on romance though. I found the development of friendships and relationships in the story so captivating that I forgot to stop the book.. and then found I had oopsed a 1-day-read. Uhm.. yes I quite liked this one.
I was surprised to find myself as the target audience. The main character is a woman who has been settling for much of her life and has never chased up on her passion projects. She has allowed her partner to belittle her efforts and has fallen into a rut where it is normal for him to be the controlling partner in her life. When 2 life changing influences coincidentally shake her life up, she is given the headspace to reassess what she is doing with her life.
The main character is someone who is interested in drawing biological specimens. I vibed with her whole habit of finding cool minibeasts or bits of broken animal and wanting to keep records of them. FOR SCIENCE! I deeply identified with the feeling of having others disgusted by the objects of your fascination, wanting to get pictures of dead birds' feet, and also the problem of having baby mantises accidentally hatch in your bedroom.. or.. all over your bedroom.
This is also a story of family reconciliation. Getting an estranged family back together again as part of a family bequest makes this an inheritance story with some cool twists. It's got a lot more trauma than I was expecting. The sister is a kick-ass goth who is a trained mortician. I think I can see a theme in the way this family works.
Didn't really expect it to be so focused on romance though. I found the development of friendships and relationships in the story so captivating that I forgot to stop the book.. and then found I had oopsed a 1-day-read. Uhm.. yes I quite liked this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit
saffpaff's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, and Death of parent
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Gore, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
lizziaha's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.5
I might’ve enjoyed this book more if it had been about 100 pages shorter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Vomit
miacorkum's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
kiakrat's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book held my interest enough to finish it but so many things in the book didn’t make sense to me. In no particular order:
1. If Natalie loves her cat, she’s not going to have a roommate/best friend who hates her cat.
2. The whole plot about penguin going missing seemed random and unnecessary.
3. The flashback to “that night” was unnecessary since it’s the only time we jump in time like that. It would have made more sense to reveal what had happened through context etc rather than slapping us in the face with it.
4. The biggest one. Why does everyone seem to think Natalie did something so wrong by calling the police? If their friend overdosed, one of her siblings could have too. She might have saved their lives. Shouldn’t they be the ones apologizing to her for being irresponsible older siblings and putting her in that position to start with? Even if they felt betrayed and were angry at the time, it’s still not Natalie’s fault that they were doing something illegal and dangerous.
5. I can sort of understand the stepdad not reaching out when the mom was sick if she asked him not to, but why wouldn’t he have reached out after she died to let her kids know?
6. I never understood why the mom cut all her kids out of her life. This subject was brought up a lot but could have been explored more.
7. As someone in science research, the portrayal of academia didn’t seem very realistic to me.
8. The way domestic violence was covered seemed too light-hearted. That situation is seriously terrifying and I didn’t feel like it was handled with the gravity warranted.
9. Why did it have to be so graphic? The descriptions of dead animals and bodily fluids. Seemed incongruous with the rest of the book’s vibe.
1. If Natalie loves her cat, she’s not going to have a roommate/best friend who hates her cat.
2. The whole plot about penguin going missing seemed random and unnecessary.
3. The flashback to “that night” was unnecessary since it’s the only time we jump in time like that. It would have made more sense to reveal what had happened through context etc rather than slapping us in the face with it.
4. The biggest one. Why does everyone seem to think Natalie did something so wrong by calling the police? If their friend overdosed, one of her siblings could have too. She might have saved their lives. Shouldn’t they be the ones apologizing to her for being irresponsible older siblings and putting her in that position to start with? Even if they felt betrayed and were angry at the time, it’s still not Natalie’s fault that they were doing something illegal and dangerous.
5. I can sort of understand the stepdad not reaching out when the mom was sick if she asked him not to, but why wouldn’t he have reached out after she died to let her kids know?
6. I never understood why the mom cut all her kids out of her life. This subject was brought up a lot but could have been explored more.
7. As someone in science research, the portrayal of academia didn’t seem very realistic to me.
8. The way domestic violence was covered seemed too light-hearted. That situation is seriously terrifying and I didn’t feel like it was handled with the gravity warranted.
9. Why did it have to be so graphic? The descriptions of dead animals and bodily fluids. Seemed incongruous with the rest of the book’s vibe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Violence