hannibanani29's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Infidelity, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, and Cancer
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
saeruh's review
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
5.0
This book was made for the girlies with dead dads. Such beautiful writing. I loved this book and yet at times I absolutely hated it because I understood the main character, January, so well. Had me sobbing in the middle of a work day so be prepared that while this is a romance novel and deals with two people falling in love, it also deals heavily with grief, abusive situations and the trauma that leaves, how good people end up in bad situations, and the simple factors of life and emotions. This book can be represented well musically by phoebe bridgers’ album Punisher and specifically the song “Kyoto” off of it.
My biggest problems were that I felt like January was never really described so I never knew how to picture her in my head and also Gus and his continual closed-off-ness made me annoyed at him during parts. But any book that makes me cry like this deserves 5 stars.
My biggest problems were that I felt like January was never really described so I never knew how to picture her in my head and also Gus and his continual closed-off-ness made me annoyed at him during parts. But any book that makes me cry like this deserves 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, Vomit, and Misogyny
Minor: Child abuse and Car accident
pucksandpaperbacks's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
CW: graphic depictions of child abuse and physical abuse, mention of cults and detailed depictions of cult life, graphic depiction and mention of car accident death, death of a parent, infidelity, cancer, and some ableist language.
I have complicated feelings on this book. I liked the writing and enjoyed the story but it felt like too much was happening at once plot-wise. Also the abuse scenes were very triggering for me. There should've been a warning at the beginning of the book or at least the beginning of those chapters because it was definitely a surprise for me. There are graphic depictions of physical abuse from Gus's father that he recounts and details. It really threw me for a loop and I was unprepared for that to be mentioned at least 2-3 times. There's a way to mention that he's been a victim and survivor of child abuse without going into detail, in my opinion.
I liked January at the beginning but as I read her more, she started to feel like a red flag. I HATED how January just didn't communicate with Gus AT ALL. She would get mad at him but not tell him why and that made me SO ANGRY. Then, toward the end, I thought I knew the characters pretty well but then their choices just confused the hell out of me.
However, I liked Gus a lot. I love a brooding character and his character development was stellar. I just felt like these characters had too much going on mentally & internally that it wasn't the right time for either of them to date which really took away from me rooting for their romance. It was a rollercoaster ride pretty much!
Some word choices were questionable and I felt like the sex scenes writing wise were recycled? She uses the word "skating" so much in every sex scene. Besides that, I really liked the sex scenes and the book was well written.
I have complicated feelings on this book. I liked the writing and enjoyed the story but it felt like too much was happening at once plot-wise. Also the abuse scenes were very triggering for me. There should've been a warning at the beginning of the book or at least the beginning of those chapters because it was definitely a surprise for me. There are graphic depictions of physical abuse from Gus's father that he recounts and details. It really threw me for a loop and I was unprepared for that to be mentioned at least 2-3 times. There's a way to mention that he's been a victim and survivor of child abuse without going into detail, in my opinion.
I liked January at the beginning but as I read her more, she started to feel like a red flag. I HATED how January just didn't communicate with Gus AT ALL. She would get mad at him but not tell him why and that made me SO ANGRY. Then, toward the end, I thought I knew the characters pretty well but then their choices just confused the hell out of me.
However, I liked Gus a lot. I love a brooding character and his character development was stellar. I just felt like these characters had too much going on mentally & internally that it wasn't the right time for either of them to date which really took away from me rooting for their romance. It was a rollercoaster ride pretty much!
Some word choices were questionable and I felt like the sex scenes writing wise were recycled? She uses the word "skating" so much in every sex scene. Besides that, I really liked the sex scenes and the book was well written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Death, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Death of parent and Cancer
Minor: Ableism and Fatphobia
filipa_maia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-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
4.0
This book was really good. And I say it like that because, once again, this is not my go-to genre. But, once again, was a suggestion from my monthly reading group and I decided to give it a chance.
This is not a typical romance in a sense that are some really dark and heavy topics represented: domestic abuse, a cult, death... the kind of themes that are not associated when you ear the genre romance.
I really enjoyed this book. I like how dark and mysterious Gus is and how fragile and hurt January feels. And I like the way both of them decide to give each other a chance (although, sometimes, January frustrated me a lot). The best part about this book is that it shows that two people with completely opposite visions of the world can find common ground.
I really liked this book and will look for more books by Emily Henry.
This is not a typical romance in a sense that are some really dark and heavy topics represented: domestic abuse, a cult, death... the kind of themes that are not associated when you ear the genre romance.
I really enjoyed this book. I like how dark and mysterious Gus is and how fragile and hurt January feels. And I like the way both of them decide to give each other a chance (although, sometimes, January frustrated me a lot). The best part about this book is that it shows that two people with completely opposite visions of the world can find common ground.
I really liked this book and will look for more books by Emily Henry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Abandonment, Grief, Chronic illness, Infidelity, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Car accident, Alcohol, and Cursing
gabbygarcia's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Fun book! The audiobook narration is great, highly recommend it. My largest complaint with the structure of the story is that there seemed to be both too much and not enough of the plot line outside of the romance— There were definitely more than a few lines that had me rolling my eyes, but overall, the dialogue was funny and captivating. Fun summer read.
Spoiler
I wanted to care more about the book-research plot line but there just wasn’t enough of it to keep me interested; it didn’t feel connected enough to the rest of the story for its placement to make sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer and Infidelity
Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Child death
anielabooks's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was a wonderful book. I am not surprised by that considering that I’ve read Emily Henry’s books before. The only disappointing part was that I expected to cry and didn’t. That definitely doesn’t take away from how much I loved the romance between the main characters. I think the book was also extremely funny at times. January and Gus’s banter was perfection, absolutely my favorite part. I also really appreciated how we got to see their books unfolded at the end. 100% would recommend this book for summer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Infidelity
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Cancer, Death, and Vomit
Minor: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Murder, and Religious bigotry
rosevity's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Minor: Child death and Car accident
faitherslibrary's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Suicide, and Child abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse
Minor: Car accident
lozziereads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
(Content warnings for this book, taken from https://booktriggerwarnings.com/index... listed at the bottom.)
3.5 Star Rating- Did I read all of this book in just four days? Yes. Does it pass the Bechdel test? not even close. Is this a story that contains fully composed characters of color, who contribute more to the plot than serving the journey of white main characters ? Also, not even close. No book that fails to do these things can ever really be a great book to me, because those are standards for me as a Black reader.
This book also toes the line of almost unbearable white feminism.
All of those things being said, I think this is some of Emily Henry's best writing. I've rated this lower than People We Meet on Vacation, but this book surprisingly subverted the romance genre in many ways for me. I am beginning to note things that are specific to this authors style, which always fascinates me. The narrator for the audiobook, Julia Whelan- who also reads for People We Meet on Vacation- is fantastic. This book is not just a romance but dissects the idea of romance, and I felt I knew both characters well, though the story is told from a Single POV. This book was a love letter to writing, and I felt inspired to write reading it. It was an excellent discussion of grief and whether or not its possible to know someone the way you want to, or think you must. Sometimes having creators as the center of a book is an easy way for the book to go cheesy- but it was an interesting discussion of the writing process and added an extra layer to the reading experience thinking of the author as an author while reading her story. Around 75% through the book, I became bored of the lack of evolvement from the issue at the heart of their relationship - meaning, knowing they had spent the whole book progressively working through an issue, it was disinteresting to have an already resolved and communicated issue come up again verbatim. The characters were going on incredibly personal journeys in their lives apart - and when they would try to make sense of the way they worked together, the problem would be almost cliche: He is ultimately intent on being secretive and self-destructive. She can't stop believing she can have an affect on his unavailability. Or rather a better way to put it is that so many of their resolutions were heavy on the emotional labor of the woman mc. It's not romantic to imagine a future like that. He is normally plain spoken, but the woman mc always has to beg him for crumbs when it comes to his emotions, especially the ones concerning her. I felt like the "enemies-to-lovers" aspect of this book was thoroughly and surprisingly well executed, not so much the "he's obsessed with her" trope, which fit clunkily into the characters past relationship towards the end of the book. I really enjoyed how many other things were going on in the book, it was balanced well with the intense connection and friendship growing between the two mcs - I don't recall more than one time when I was disappointed by the division of time between topics in the novel. I loved that there were lesbians in the book - but they were white lesbians, and though they had a relative depth, I still felt betrayed by the amount of definition they got in comparison to Shadi.
All in all I feel very conflicted about this book. I'm glad I finally took the chance to read it!
3.5 Star Rating- Did I read all of this book in just four days? Yes. Does it pass the Bechdel test? not even close. Is this a story that contains fully composed characters of color, who contribute more to the plot than serving the journey of white main characters ? Also, not even close. No book that fails to do these things can ever really be a great book to me, because those are standards for me as a Black reader.
This book also toes the line of almost unbearable white feminism.
All of those things being said, I think this is some of Emily Henry's best writing. I've rated this lower than People We Meet on Vacation, but this book surprisingly subverted the romance genre in many ways for me. I am beginning to note things that are specific to this authors style, which always fascinates me. The narrator for the audiobook, Julia Whelan- who also reads for People We Meet on Vacation- is fantastic. This book is not just a romance but dissects the idea of romance, and I felt I knew both characters well, though the story is told from a Single POV. This book was a love letter to writing, and I felt inspired to write reading it. It was an excellent discussion of grief and whether or not its possible to know someone the way you want to, or think you must. Sometimes having creators as the center of a book is an easy way for the book to go cheesy- but it was an interesting discussion of the writing process and added an extra layer to the reading experience thinking of the author as an author while reading her story. Around 75% through the book, I became bored of the lack of evolvement from the issue at the heart of their relationship - meaning, knowing they had spent the whole book progressively working through an issue, it was disinteresting to have an already resolved and communicated issue come up again verbatim. The characters were going on incredibly personal journeys in their lives apart - and when they would try to make sense of the way they worked together, the problem would be almost cliche: He is ultimately intent on being secretive and self-destructive. She can't stop believing she can have an affect on his unavailability. Or rather a better way to put it is that so many of their resolutions were heavy on the emotional labor of the woman mc. It's not romantic to imagine a future like that. He is normally plain spoken, but the woman mc always has to beg him for crumbs when it comes to his emotions, especially the ones concerning her. I felt like the "enemies-to-lovers" aspect of this book was thoroughly and surprisingly well executed, not so much the "he's obsessed with her" trope, which fit clunkily into the characters past relationship towards the end of the book. I really enjoyed how many other things were going on in the book, it was balanced well with the intense connection and friendship growing between the two mcs - I don't recall more than one time when I was disappointed by the division of time between topics in the novel. I loved that there were lesbians in the book - but they were white lesbians, and though they had a relative depth, I still felt betrayed by the amount of definition they got in comparison to Shadi.
All in all I feel very conflicted about this book. I'm glad I finally took the chance to read it!
- Alcohol abuse
- Cancer (past, in remission)
- Car accident
- Character death (parents, referenced)
- Cheating (past)
- Child abuse (past)
- Child neglect (past)
- Cult (suicide cult, past)
- Drink-Driving
- Emesis
- Fire (past)
- Grief
- Physical abuse (past)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Physical abuse and Car accident
lucy_shanners's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, and Infidelity
Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit and Car accident