wilybooklover's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
2.0
I get why people like this so much, purely from a romance standpoint. The narrative is so tightly focused on the two main characters and all of their interactions, it’s almost as if they were in their own little Romance Bubble and you know what? I’m here for it. I don’t care about side-plots, give me the two characters together on page in every scene! The dialogue and banter were cleverly written, and the sex was very, well, sexy It’s a very sensual book. But sadly, these were about the only things I liked about the book.
Spoiler
(aside from a kiss scene which is basically the hero sexually assaulting the heroine but written as if it's supposed to be sexy).The main reason the romance didn’t really work for me because Joshua Templeman is like, the exact opposite of what I find attractive or sexy, and the book is so focused on him and his appearance and behaviour that it's hard to forget it. He’s controlling and mean bordering on cruel to the heroine for no real reason. He’s creepy He’s super tall and muscular and chiselled, which I know is virtually inescapable in the romance genre but incredibly unattractive to me. Not to mention his woe-is-me attitude because people use him for his looks and then leave him when they get to know his shitty personality (has he ever considered maybe possibly being nice to people? Just a thought!). I cannot imagine a man who is more likely to turn me off and leave me stone cold if I created him myself.
Spoiler
(I’m sorry, who paints their bedroom walls the exact same shade as their coworker’s eye colour??).And then there’s Lucy. I was sympathetic to her work situation, but that’s about it. Her inner monologue is so judgemental about everyone and everything that it was hard to read at times. And really offensive — if you can think of any type of shaming, -phobia, or -ism, Lucy engaged in it. Fatphobia, racism, ableism, slut-shaming, gender essentialism, even height-shaming which is ironic considering she’s literally five feet tall herself and never shuts up about it. I’m not sure why all of these little quips are even in there because they don’t serve any real character-building purpose; all they do is make it unbearable to be in our main character’s head. And I get that it’s romance so of course our characters are going to find each other attractive, but the degree to which she objectified Josh’s body made me a bit uncomfortable.
Also, RIP to the HR department in this fictional company. I know these two were the bane of your existence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Medical content, Racism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Ableism
Minor: Eating disorder
hollymileham's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
stop telling me how short and tiny you are lucy i beg
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism and Eating disorder
mazycelia's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Eating disorder
iiselin's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
If you have the UK version of this book, then you’ll see that it has the r-slur on page 358. Would not recommend, love interest is very creepy as well. Read ✨any other book✨ and it will be better than this. There are so many other enemies to lovers books out there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Dementia, Eating disorder, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Sexism, and Vomit
c444's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
2.5
Repetitive, uses a lot of the same descriptors over and over, uses offensive language, falls into patriarchal themes, has weird diet-culture-y descriptors of food. Enjoyable but glad I didn’t pay money to read it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Body shaming
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