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kitheminges'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Body shaming and Classism
Minor: Racism
hmatt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
And I really enjoyed it! It felt like every scene was important to the story - nothing dragged on, the whole novel really kept to pace. I think there was potential for this not to be true with how many different perspectives were incorporated. Most importantly, I felt connected to all the perspective characters, even the minor ones (Not saying I felt for them all, to be clear lol). TJR has always been really good at writing complex, flawed, real people characters.
The one-day structure of the story was also well-executed. I appreciated that, even though we're told about how the 24 hours ends right at the start, the foreshadowing throughout isn't overbearing and there's room for other storylines to breathe and play out. Plus, while a number of predictable events happen, I was relieved to not come out of this reading feeling like I had been fed a cookie-cutter/play-on-real-life novel.
[April 9, 2022 update: I can't get these characters out of my head so I think that merits updating the rating to 4.75]
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Classism
Minor tags are predominantly just "mentions of"itsmeyseniab's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Miscarriage, Racism, and Abortion
beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Gun violence, Racism, and Forced institutionalization
madpayne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Infidelity
Minor: Racism and Sexual harassment
linesiunderline's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
What I liked:
• TJR can write. I enjoy her prose. It has energy.
• Although I felt like the characterization was uneven, there are characters here who felt alive and memorable (June and Nina especially).
• Malibu came to life vividly - love me a strong sense of place.
Howevers:
• So many people - I wanted to know more about the Riva kids in the present day.
• Somehow I was expecting the cause of the fire to be A LOT more dramatic. This isn’t to say that I don’t like TJR’s choice the more I sit with it, but it did seem like we were building towards this giant climactic fire-lighting moment that never came.
• A lot going on for a relatively short novel, told in dual timelines. I enjoy her writing so maybe overall this would have worked better for me if it was a bit longer.
Very well narrated on audio by Julia Whelan.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Gun violence
toofondofbooks_'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? Yes
4.5
My favorite characters were definitely Nina, Kit, and June. Mick Riva deserves no rights and that's all i will say about him. I loved the family dynamic between the siblings, how they found strength in each other even in the worst circumstances. It made me really happy even when the book got sad. Something that bothered me about the book and made me take off some "points" I guess, is that there were POVs outside of the Riva family that I simply didn't care about. They didn't end up having any real relevance and filled up pages unnecessarily - in my opinion. I'm sure there were reasons for this, but it just took me out of it.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, and Pregnancy
Minor: Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Police brutality, Car accident, Abortion, and Outing