Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

44 reviews

katmystery's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

Julia Whelan knows how to write romance! She’s a renowned audiobook narrator, so when I heard she’d written a rom com about two romance audiobook narrators narrating the same book falling in love, I checked it out right away. It was fun and intense and had beautiful character development and a fully-realized heroine. I recommend it to romance fans and also fans of women’s fiction. Note: listen to the audiobook if you can!!! The author narrates it.

Content warnings: Alzheimer’s, ableism, traumatic accident.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Dementia

daniofthewood's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

blackveilbeccy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This was attempting to be really clever in using and subverting tropes, but it fell flat for me. This whole book felt disjointed due to the rapid tone and style changes. There were also so many characters and subplots that it felt chaotic. I found the FMC horrendously self-pitying and I know it’s silly, but I struggled with the author’s choice of first name for her. Almost none of the characters were likeable as they all came away looking self-absorbed. There were times I felt like DNF but the premise was interesting enough that I pushed through. The texting and epistolary elements were the most enjoyable and felt the most real. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

l1brarygirl's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Cute & funny romance written by one of my favorite audiobook narrators (and also narrated by her, duh). Made me laugh out loud at parts but it also had some serious parts. Also loved the author's note at the end. I couldn't put it down! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Cursing, Sexual content, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Addiction

teacupsandfirereads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a fun one. When I first saw it, without reading the blurb, I thought it was a memoir. It is not so and I appreciate the author's note. Listening to it on audio is definitely the way to go. It was engaging and heartwarming and had a storyline that drew you in. It was multi-dimensional and has developed characters. I absolutely love Blah Blah. It was cheesy and predicable at parts, but still enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction and Suicide attempt

amy_in_the_city's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

The pacing of this book was weird. I really enjoyed the slow development of the relationship in the first half as the two lead characters correspond through emails and texts. Then they meet about halfway through, and the rest of the book is a mess. The FMC is pissed off at the MMC for hiding his identity from her, but she was also hiding her identity from him. She spends a good chunk of the rest of the book picking fights with everyone who cares about her. During this section, I really started to feel like instead of a relationship, the book should have ended with the FMC trying therapy again. Then the main characters spend a lot of time just kind of hanging out but not really as a couple while they slowly decide to actually be a couple. There are a bunch of other plot lines (the audition, grandmother's health, finishing recording the audiobook, mom's relationship, the audiobook studio, friend's acting career stress, etc.) in the second half of the book, so the romance gets sidelined. 

The MMC feels underdeveloped throughout the book and the story makes him grovel seemingly just because groveling is popular in romance novels. He didn't do anything that deserved groveling. Also, I think there was only like one sex scene, and it was kind of vague. It makes sense to be vague if you're trying to keep the book from being explicit, but the audiobook the main characters record is explicit so this book wouldn't have been non-explicit anyways. Something similar happens at the end when the story tells us the MMC wrote a song and then proceeds to tell us how the FMC felt listening to the song instead of giving us any song lyrics.

Another thing that bugged me throughout the book was that there were repeated instances of putting down other women. The FMC and one of her fellow audiobook narrators are dismissive towards an aspiring audiobook narrator because they perceive her as a blonde bimbo. The grandma is always making fun of another woman at her retirement home's plastic surgery, which seems like an especially odd choice in a book about a FMC with facial differences. Everyone at the retirement home makes fun of another female resident there for being proud of a recipe she makes that brought her family joy. The FMC seems judgmental towards and disdainful of the gentle-parenting yoga mom she is seated next on a plane.

I really loved the idea of this book, but it just didn't land the execution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Misogyny, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

stephlo's review against another edition

hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism and Dementia

mariposa517's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Dementia, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

kaylaogle's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

There are parts I really love, and parts that I had trouble sitting with. Overall enjoyable, but a not so great Irish accent was used for one of the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Injury/Injury detail