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livinonaprairie's review
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Child death and Miscarriage
bujo_bellel's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pregnancy
Minor: Bullying and Infidelity
sophiemartin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Medical content
sami_leigh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
🌶️🌶️/5
“Every time I’m with her, it’s like the world shines a little brighter.”
🎄 Friends to lovers
🎄 Slow burn
🎄 He falls first
🎄 FMC overcomes trauma surrounding death of parents
🎄 Family Christmas Tree Farm
🎄 Some well established secondary characters
🎄 Fake dating (briefly to make exes jealous)
🎄 Found family
🎄 Epilogue
🚩 Toxic masculinity & sexism in characters’ speech & thoughts towards each other. Writing normalises men being shamed as ‘effeminate’ & ‘enuch’, women as ‘ho’, ‘bitch’, and slut-shamed.
🚩 Little growth in characters surrounding sexist & toxic remarks
🚩 Moderate typos
⚠️ Pregnancy, moderate violence, car accident (not on page), death of parents (not on page), misogyny/sexism, toxic relationship, toxic friendship, vomit, MC returns from active duty in military.
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Vomit, Car accident, and Pregnancy
theespressoedition'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It has my favorite trope in the world: best friends-to-lovers! And the chemistry between Nick and Noel is adorable, spicy, and terribly frustrating... because Noel has reservations at every turn.
Okay, so she's dealt with a lot of heartbreak in her life. Her parents passed away so she thinks everyone is going to leave her. Completely understandable. What wasn't understandable was the fact that Nick had been her best friend for ages, she was basically "adopted" into his family when her own parents passed and they've never given up on her, and basically every other person in her life has proven that they're not going anywhere. So the fact that she's hung up from the get-go on the fact that if she and Nick enter a romantic relationship, he's going to bail at some point really bugged me. Especially because it's obvious that Nick is crazy about her.
Then there's Amber. An absolute bitch. And I don't usually use language like that in my reviews. But, I think she's the most horrible character I've ever read. Some of this story was realistic, but the way Amber acted throughout: riling up Noel, trying to get Nick back at every opportunity, even causing issues for Gabi (Gabby? I don't know - I listened to the audiobook so my spelling could be off)... it all seemed SO unrealistic. And like halfway through the story we're supposed to kind of feel bad for her because she's had a tough go of things too? Nope. I don't feel a shred of sympathy for her. But Noel's actions towards her were both justified and also totally ridiculous.
Anyways, basically, I hated Amber and tolerated Noel. Nick and his friends and family were the saving grace of this book for me. They were funny, loving, and put up with so much of the drama!
While I mostly enjoyed the story, I found myself wishing it would've ended about halfway through. It drew things out for a long time and that kinda irked me. But when I initially put it down, I didn't think, "Oh, I hated that," but more, "Eh, that was cute but I wouldn't read it again." So I guess that sums it all up.
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Infidelity and Sexual harassment