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lindsaymck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Beckett/Bex is a wishy-washy enabler who is too afraid to go after what she wants and set boundaries for her absentee mom and stalker ex-boyfriend. It sucks that the ex kept pursuing her and intruding on the happiness she was trying to find with calls/texts, wrist-grabbing, and an un-consenting kiss, but the fact that she chose to be alone with him to talk before the freakin championship game was the stupidest decision an FMC has ever made. She calls herself out for this stupidity to a friend afterwards and as the friend was comforting her, I was wishing the friend would tell it like it is and say “YUP! You were so dumb. That conversation could’ve happened literally any other time, but you had to make it before the biggest game of their lives. Way to make a day they’ve worked so hard for as a team all about you.”
I think I could love a football romance despite not loving football, but the climax of the book made me SO angry. Forget for a second how unrealistically it handled collegiate athletics, the decision James makes on the field in the championship game ruined the book for me. I understand that it’s fiction, but James’ priorities are so f**cked up and he has not learned a damn thing about how to keep the drama off the field. I hated the way he villainized his dad who was only trying to point out the tunnel-vision he always gets for the woman he’s dating, protect him from his own obsessive savior complex, and safeguard his future in the NFL.
James and Bex felt so one-dimensional and their fake dating actually accomplished nothing because everyone around them knew it was fake from the beginning, yet they seemed to jump from “let’s pretend” to “come home for Christmas with me, I love you.” Their co-dependency and immaturity gave me the ick.
Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, and Stalking
megreads12's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death of parent
ciara_fs98's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Stalking
Minor: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Sexual harassment
njh_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
It's a fun book--3.5 stars cause it's fun but I'll probably never read it again.
Really enjoyed Beckett as a female character's name. Reminded me of being down South and the naming practices (wouldn't have expected it for a NY born and raised character).
The Callahan family is fun minus the dad Richard. Love Sandra the mom, she knows what's up.
Darryl was an ass. Hope he got expelled or suspended.
Interested to see how much more of Bex and James we'll see in the rest of the series.
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Miscarriage and Alcohol
yourstrulytay's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Sexual harassment
northernsweetie's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Stalking
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury
rickireadss's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Stalking and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Infidelity and Miscarriage
cassie12_21's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Stalking and Sexual harassment
prettynerdy3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
aj_igoe's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
However, a few things are keeping me hovering at the 3 star range.
1. The writing was mostly fine however the lack of dialogue tags was confusing so sometimes I would get lost at who was talking. There was even one or two scenes. Worse there was three people talking, and they would just be going back-and-forth and you couldn’t really figure out who said what. I really dislike talking heads and I really think this book needed a little bit more editing.
2. Well, there was some character arc, and the characters are actually quite enjoyable and lovable, I did feel like they could’ve been flushed out a little more. But overall I did like the characters
3. As a photographer myself for over 15 years it was clear the writer did not do any research on photography or cameras. And some of the writing about the photographer you was off because it wasn’t the correct way to write about it. But that’s just a small thing and passable, mostly.
4. I did not enjoy the spicy scenes — like how they happened was fine it was the writing of the spicy scenes. After having gotten to know the characters, some of the word choice just didn’t feel like it came from the characters. It felt like the writer was trying to write some hard-core smut, but this book was not a hard-core, smut book. With how the characters are, and how they are written, it feels like a light-hearted romance with spicy scenes. Basically, the words just didn’t feel right, I just really didn’t like the vocabulary and felt as though the author could have done a better job describing the spicy scenes without having to use some of the word choices. With how passionate the characters where about each other it just felt dirty. I enjoy spicy scenes, do not get me wrong, but because of the word choices I mostly skipped over the Amit scenes.
5. Lack of diversity in characters. Maybe one side Bipoc character for one page as reference and no LGBT representation - not even a background side character.
_*****overall though I had mostly a good time and loved the characters. Seriously, James and his family dynamic was actually really well done and I loved his family. The protagonist was sweet and enjoyable.
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Body shaming, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexism, and Stalking