Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Ugly Love

< spoiler> Lots of unnecessary sex <spoilers>
I felt bored reading the book, it didn’t grab my attention. Nor was I a fan of Tate being emotionally used by Miles. There was no growth between the two characters. The growth didn’t happen throughout the story either.

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megan_78's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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umarshahzad's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Spoiler

Ugly Love has got to be one of my fave reads by CoHo. It depicts the themes of PTSD, trauma, and emotional detachment really well. We follow the story fo two characters, Miles and Tate. Tate is a free reign girl that wants to start a fresh life, whilst Miles is an introvert that is very cordoned off from the beginning. Throughout the book, wee the development of both characters and how their lives part and collide with each other. We also get to find out why Miles is always very shy and not as energetic as Tate, and how him and his then wife Rachel had lost their baby in a car crash in water. It shows us the impact of memories and the guilt that Miles had to go through to believe that it was his fault whilst it was the opposite. We also see their personalities going in the reverse direcation to each other. For example, Tate at the start is a very eager girl and when she meets Miles, she feels like her life is going smooth, until we find out that Miles has a lot of trauma behind his past. Furthermore, we see Miles going in to opposite direction. He starts off as being very private and not meddling with anyone else's lives if they don't meddle with his, until he meets Tate and opens up to her about his guilt and his horrific past. We also see Rachel, who was Miles's ex, POV which I felt like was needed in this type of story, and how Miles was very developed and happy during his time with Clayton, their son. It also shows how impactful some post-trauma can be and how Miles blamed himself for the whole accident until he met with Rachel and she consoled him. Ugly Love deals with neglect and shows how even though there are some parts that are bad, it is the happy moments in the book and the lives of Tate and Miles that make up for the ugly love

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_caitlin_doesnt_read_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

(SPOILERS !!)

Okay... so... the first like 70% of this book was... not good. sorry. But so much of it was just sex and the story wasn't progressing at all, we weren't learning anything about Miles' character and I was more interested in the Rachel storyline than the Tate one. I really really hated Miles throughout most of this book. He had no respect for Tate, he was rude asf, and he literally sexual abused her multiple times??? I didn't feel the chemistry between them, their dynamic was fucking strange. Did I cry for an hour straight reading this book? Yes, I did. Did I internally scream when Rachel revealed the name of her daughter? Yes, I did. Loved the ending but I can't get over Miles' character in the beginning bc it was incredibly strange and gross and misogynistic and IK ITS BC HE HAS TRAUMA but I can't get over it - he had no respect for Tate and I constantly felt like he was exploiting her for sex? bc he was. However, I gave it 4.25 stars bc I really liked the ending and Miles getting his closure. Okay.

xoxo, gossip girl.

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