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beebowbabe's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Gaslighting
blissofalife's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
But starting a book with no background expectations or knowledge of characters is a very different experience. This as a published book? I'm conflicted. The characters were all pretty dislikable. Ari and Josh are depressed for nearly the entire book, and though they set clear boundaries and expectations of what their relationship is going to be (which I am personally a fan of, I love some good communication), when Josh's perspective is full of thoughts of Ari as more than a friend and his sexual desire for her it felt like he made no effort whatsoever to respect Ari's CLEARLY COMMUNICATED needs and wants. But later we're supposed to sympathize with him when she rejects him? And cheer for them to get together? No. I don't think so.
Everybody in this book needs therapy. It made for good storytelling for the first half of the book, but after that it became repetitive and hard to root for the characters. Toxic relationships abound. Everybody's mad all the time, nobody's happy ever, and that sucks. The ending felt forced and very rom-com-esque. I give 'em a year.
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Gaslighting
manaledi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, and Grief
Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Gaslighting
lochnessvhs's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I made an Ari & Josh playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0X3RSJ35Wr9wN2T7IlCEbD?si=54ac7047074f48e7
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
kirareadssometimes'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This books was still quite engaging with great banter and a fun friendship aspect. Mostly feel like the recs I saw were misleading.
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Gaslighting
mari1532's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Summary: Ari is a commitment phobe with aspirations of making it as a stand-up comedian. Josh is a hopeless romantic trying to make a name for himself as a world-renowned chief. They meet because Josh is hoping to make Ari's roommate-with-benefits his girlfriend. After their meet-not-so-cute, they try and navigate being polar opposites the world seems determined to stick together.
Thoughts: Usually, I like to give ratings that are either a full point or half a point because that makes more sense in my brain, but I found this book hard to rate. I really enjoy the nods to the source material and the writing was captivating enough that I devoured this audiobook in a single sitting. However, when the book was over I did not leave with that warm feeling I usually get at the end of a romance novel. I think this is because I did not leave the book believing that the two characters would live happily ever after. The most annoying thing is that I cannot pinpoint exactly why I feel that way.
I really enjoyed the ways that Goldbeck modernized the story and made the repeated meetings a bit more outlandish. There were several times throughout the book I laughed really hard. However, I really found Ari hard to understand as a character. Her character arc was beautiful throughout the story and I would argue does include some growth on her part, but her relationship history was a bit difficult to understand in some ways. At the beginning of the book she is 100% against relationships, but throughout the book her opinions on this change, but it doesn't feel like these changes were because she grew as a person. I find it very hard to articulate, but it felt a bit like halfway through the book Ari had a factory reset on her relationship settings. That being said, Goldbeck's writing made it easy to empathize with Ari in certain moments and there is one particular moment when even though there were barely any words on the page I knew exactly how she was feeling.
I liked Josh less, in fact, he may have been my least favourite character in the whole book. Again, Goldbeck had a way of really making me understand him as a character on the page in some moments, but if he were a real person I don't think we would be friends.
This is not a bad book. I did not put it down. There were instances that I even enjoyed. However, I am very ambivalent about the characters and the story in this book. It is a good weekend read if you are looking for something entertaining but not requiring heavy investment.
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism
dianaschmidty's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Abandonment
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship