Scan barcode
dlsmk's review against another edition
2.75
This book has so much potential but christ on a bike and mother mary on the handlebars these protagonists are both nearly hitting 40 and if I hear "professor google" non ironically ever again I may throw hands. It was mentioned so obnoxiously more often than it should have been. And dear god I can't even begin to tell you how poorly I feel the conversation and actions toward depression were handle (as a person with mdd and a whole host of other mental health realted disorders it just really pissed me off). I have other issues with this book but it took me an entire 3 weeks to complete a book that is relatively easy to get through. I think it put me in a slump for most of the month so I am done with it and finished talking about it. So much potential squandered. Ugh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abandonment
xtinareally's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ This was a hilarious and deep romance I didn't know what to expect but I'm so satisfied with what I got. You get a wild plot set in the cute locale of Harlot's Bay with a rambunctious quirky cast.
I may not ever (nor want to) be the filling in an open-faced Vine Bros sandwich, butI was happy to find Athena and Matthew's relationship didn't feel as much of a triangle due to a separation of time and physical location from Johnny for a majority of the story. I felt all the simmering emotions of what Athena was going through and recognized the signs of her struggles within myself. In the end I didn't realize how much therapy I would get and work through - for that's I am so grateful for picking up this book and getting a wealth of good quotes and motivation.
I may not ever (nor want to) be the filling in an open-faced Vine Bros sandwich, but
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, and Grief
Minor: Ableism, Child death, and Abandonment
thelittleoddling's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
5.0
This book was exactly what I wanted. It’s a little cheesy, very sweet, and Matthew is totally my type of fictional man.
I haven’t read a book this fast in years and I had a great time start to finish.
Not only was it very funny and sweet but it also handles subjects of grief and depression with grace and manages to keep the tone overall light hearted. Though I did almost cry multiple times.
Very excited to read the next book in the harlot’s bay series!
I haven’t read a book this fast in years and I had a great time start to finish.
Not only was it very funny and sweet but it also handles subjects of grief and depression with grace and manages to keep the tone overall light hearted. Though I did almost cry multiple times.
Very excited to read the next book in the harlot’s bay series!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Grief
broomsticksandmagick's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Grief
uranaishi's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Sexual content
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Medical content, and Grief
Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
blewballoon's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
4.0
Olivia Dade has been on my list of authors to check out for a while, and now I'm looking forward to reading more! This book was a lot of fun. I did find that certain areas of dialogue or humor would have worked better if they had been trimmed a little, but that didn't take away from my overall enjoyment. This is for romance lovers who embrace the silliness of the genre. I think the audiobook narrator did an alright job, but I may have preferred reading the text myself in this case.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Sexual content
Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Abandonment
Minor: Medical content
rosie_valadez's review against another edition
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Abandonment
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
“To her mind, the owner of a spite house should spend her days reclining upon a sleek settee. One upholstered in satin, or possibly velvet brocade. Whichever fabric most clearly told observers I am a woman of both ineffable power and ineffable pettiness, and thus bought a fancy elongated chair-thing.”
➽ At First Spite was one of my most anticipated releases, so I was disappointed this was a complete miss for me. I was excited about the premise, as the idea of a Spite House was so interesting. The main character Athena moves into one after being dropped by her fiance. Unfortunately, that means being neighbors with her ex and his brother, who convinced him to break off the engagement in the first place.
➽ Athena's character had promise and I really sympathized with her situation. Broke and scorned, she has no choice but to move into the Spite House and take on a job at the local coffee shop. It's tough as she's far from family and friends and too ashamed to tell them what happened. Instead, she's back at Harlot's Bay where she knows no one but her ex-fiance and his brother. I liked the discussion of her feeling lost when it came to her career. I empathised with her struggles to find out what she wanted to do and switching between jobs. Athena is curious and passionate but struggled to commit to one field in the past. After giving up her teaching job back home, she'd hoped to take time off to figure things out, but that's no longer possible. Unfortunately, the writing made Athena feel distant as a character and I struggled to connect to her, despite feeling for her situation. She felt so superficial and times and even serious scenes such as her depressive phase felt underdeveloped. Because of Matthew's involvement in her life, it also felt like Athena lacked agency, as everything was done for her. Her realisations about her self-worth felt unearned, as she didn't properly grow over the course of the story.
➽ Matthew's character brought up a lot of mixed feelings. I liked the idea of him being stoic and reliable, as he's been forced to take responsibility for his brother Johnny. He basically raised him after an incident in their childhood (that we should have learned about much earlier) and devoted his entire life to him. Even now that Johnny is almost 30, Matthew is still looking out for his little brother and managing his career, as they're now both at the same practice. I would have liked Matthew, but he felt like two completely different characters, so his character didn't add up. Past Matthew thought Athena was so unsuitable that he convinced his brother to break off their engagement and
➽ The romance was NOT the spite-filled hate-to-love dynamic I wanted. If you want a really good one, I'd recommend Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan instead. My main issues was that Athena and Matthew were lusting after each other from the very beginning and despite their bad history, they never felt like enemies. The story would tell us about their resentment, but all their interactions didn't match up to it, they were way too civil. The spite? Basically nonexistent, except when it randomly gets brought up midway through the book when Athena decides to do the pranks after all. I didn't see any development in their relationship, all their interactions were forced and sometimes unbelievable -
➽ I was also uncomfortable with how Matthew gets involved in Athena's life immediately. It was all excused as him 'taking responsibility' for how he blew up her life. However, it rubbed me the wrong way how often he went behind her back to do things, he knew she wouldn't like. S
➽ I struggled so much with the writing and plot. Normally, I love Olivia Dade's writing style, but this book felt unpolished and not up to her usual standard. The sentences were unnecessarily convoluted and the modern slang (including memes and other phrases) was a bit too much at times. I didn't like Athena's quirk of constantly coming up with different metaphors/similies that were trying too hard to be creative. Most of the time, the comparisons were just weird and unnatural (such as the plasma ball one or the weird metaphor with space/Jupiter). The dialogue with Matthew and Athena felt so forced and sometimes I feel like I lost the conversation thread. The plot was also all over the place. The 'prank war' element was being underutilized and not executed how I expected based on the premise. It only comes up in the middle of the book for a short time, but that's it. This romance also doesn't feel like it fits the typical beats you'd expect, as the couple gets together so late in the story and the final conflict is pushed off until the very end because of it. It didn't help that with Athena constantly switching jobs (and therefore settings, coworkers etc.), it was hard to feel settled in the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Minor: Death, Grief, and Abandonment
foreverbooked15's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Grief
mothmanda's review against another edition
funny
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
This book was fantastic! It was hilarious and sweet and spicy in all the right ways. It deals with despression and grief, parentifcation of siblings, and some heavier topics in a normalized but in a respectful way. I absolutely loved Athena and her no tolerance for bullshit attitude. She was such a fun and relatable character! I also loved Michael so much. The way he treated and cared for Athena, especially through her depression! Ugh, swoon. This is one of my top books of the year so far.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief