acinthedc's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Just an ok read about a working woman with young children who suddenly discovers her marriage isn't as happy as she thought while a hurricane approaches. Not quite chick-lit and not as humorous as I'd hoped based on the title and jacket description.
bookworm2318's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
4.0
I enjoyed this book. I thought the main character was super relatable, probably because I’m a mom too. I laughed out loud a few times. Is this a life changing book? No. But I had a fun time reading it.
pecsenye's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-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
4.25
Very relatable book about a woman losing her identity because she's a working mother in a boring marriage, and then a hurricane comes and everything happens and she has to choose herself. Not brilliant, but lovely and relatable. I'd read another book about the main character and more books by the author.
coburnj3's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
susanh13's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
karlybug's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
this was absolutely fine. nothing special; i wouldn’t even call it delightful. i didn’t really feel attached to any of the characters—though i’m not a mom, so maybe that’s because i’m not the target audience. i enjoyed the realizations Ramona had by the ending, but the writing style was not my favorite. generally it was fine and easy to read but the author kept doing two things that particularly irritated me, both regarding dialogue. the first was that in the (many) flashbacks, she didn’t use any quotation marks or any other punctuation to signify when people were speaking, which made it exceptionally difficult to tell the difference between what someone was saying and what she was thinking in her narration. the other thing was the she has this massive habit of breaking up dialogue by using the “says” in the middle of a sentence, which works sometimes but is used sparingly by most authors for a reason. it made the dialogue stilted and clunky. also it was just annoying. i generally liked the concept of a woman’s life falling apart while she’s literally in the middle of a hurricane, but i’m still not super sure what the point of the whole Prince angle was. i think you could take every Prince reference out and this book would still be fine. which tells me you’ve done it wrong. also, pretty ironic to have a moment where a character notices a typo in a book with a noticeable amount of them itself. where was the editor?
lrector's review
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A fun, quick read with a ton of Prince references. Ramona's life is a disaster and she has to prep for a natural disaster. A chaotic several days with some questionable choices, a hurricane, a toddler that refuses to potty train, a neighborhood teen in tow, a stubborn mom, and of course a husband caught cheating. Ramona reflects on the past while trying to get through the present. Who is she now? When did she get lost?
If Prince hadn't died, the world would still sparkle and the rain would be purple. All would be OK, because we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life. I picked this up because of the title. I enjoyed it.
If Prince hadn't died, the world would still sparkle and the rain would be purple. All would be OK, because we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life. I picked this up because of the title. I enjoyed it.
k4tno3lle's review
4.0
very much a “nothing really happens. just vibes” kind of book, which was fine because it was pretty entertaining.
i didn’t read any reviews yet but the goodreads score for this is surprisingly low but i didn’t think it was bad. it wasn’t super funny but there were times that i’d giggle and reread some parts. i also liked how each chapter title referenced a line from the chapter (never found the sentence that had “hell or high water” though smh) and i felt connected to ramona and the rest of the characters & i was always excited to see what’ll happen next with them which is always good
i’m glad they left it up for interpretation as to what’ll happen with desmond and ramona. i get relationships are messy but cheating is (in my opinion) an automatic deal breaker/perfectly good reason for divorce. ramona has every reason to be mad at him - she was unhappy too but she didn’t cheat on him. i could see how some people might not like ramona but i didn’t have much problems with her lmao she was kinda relatable
i mentioned this before but it’s crazy how different parenthood is portrayed in different books. like in “the lost ticket”, dylan & libby raising frankie seemed pure and they didn’t touch upon any of the bad, but in this book, it showed the not so nice side of parenthood & marriage
i also liked her going against the awful corporate america lifestyle as she should
there’s not really much to say, a lot of it was kinda unmemorable, some of the flashbacks were boring & we never got to find out how desmond and ramona even met?
i wish ramona a happy life with whatever she decides to do with her marriage <3
i didn’t read any reviews yet but the goodreads score for this is surprisingly low but i didn’t think it was bad. it wasn’t super funny but there were times that i’d giggle and reread some parts. i also liked how each chapter title referenced a line from the chapter (never found the sentence that had “hell or high water” though smh) and i felt connected to ramona and the rest of the characters & i was always excited to see what’ll happen next with them which is always good
i’m glad they left it up for interpretation as to what’ll happen with desmond and ramona. i get relationships are messy but cheating is (in my opinion) an automatic deal breaker/perfectly good reason for divorce. ramona has every reason to be mad at him - she was unhappy too but she didn’t cheat on him. i could see how some people might not like ramona but i didn’t have much problems with her lmao she was kinda relatable
i mentioned this before but it’s crazy how different parenthood is portrayed in different books. like in “the lost ticket”, dylan & libby raising frankie seemed pure and they didn’t touch upon any of the bad, but in this book, it showed the not so nice side of parenthood & marriage
i also liked her going against the awful corporate america lifestyle as she should
there’s not really much to say, a lot of it was kinda unmemorable, some of the flashbacks were boring & we never got to find out how desmond and ramona even met?
i wish ramona a happy life with whatever she decides to do with her marriage <3
cmg629's review
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0