xooelisa's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Car accident, Death, and Sexual content
Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, and Gun violence
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcohol, and Terminal illness
lakeness's review
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I know this is a much loved book but the writing style really doesn't work for me. It's overly descriptive in a way that makes everything move at snail's pace. I really didn't need half a page about Bree brushing her teeth. It's also over the top dramatic in a very Lifetime-movie kind of way, which is only fun for me if you don't take it seriously, but Mia Sheridan takes it very very seriously. Serious as a heart attack (which, in fact, one random side character even has to create some tense misunderstandings between the MCs and is promptly forgotten by the next chapter). Everything is LIFE OR DEATH EVERY TIME ALWAYS and I got tired of the constant high stakes dramatic confrontation one after the other. Did this really need so many one dimensional antagonists, including one called 'evil bitch extraordinaire' who is just evil for no real reason? I'm sure she does cartoon muahahahas behind the scenes too.
Bree suffers from a bad case of Beer Flavoured Nipples, where every man ever is madly in love with her, despite her having no real personality? Which would still be fine, if each of these men didn't bring their own share of annoying drama. Boo. I'm uncomfortable with how Archer is characterised as a either a 'lost puppy' or a 'little boy'. It's infantilising and verges on inspiration porn a lot. I really wouldn't recomend this as a well written disabled character, it's transparently meant for able bodied readers to self insert in the role of saviour instead. While we're on the subject, I'm intensely annoyed by how Bree's PTSD is magically cured over night by sex. Their relationship goes from 0 to 100 and they're in love by, like, 30%. I wish we could have seen that progress more organically instead of all the page time devoted to random bullshit.
I did really enjoy the sweet domesticity kind of scenes with Bree and Archer just chilling, and making dinner and talking. The sex scenes are sweet and the excessively descriptive writing works well there. I wish we had more of that and less gun men and scheming exes hiding behind every potted plant. The unnecessary drama at literally 95% - that I saw coming a mile off - pushed my rating down to two stars. I couldn't take any more of that.
Bree suffers from a bad case of Beer Flavoured Nipples, where every man ever is madly in love with her, despite her having no real personality? Which would still be fine, if each of these men didn't bring their own share of annoying drama. Boo. I'm uncomfortable with how Archer is characterised as a either a 'lost puppy' or a 'little boy'. It's infantilising and verges on inspiration porn a lot. I really wouldn't recomend this as a well written disabled character, it's transparently meant for able bodied readers to self insert in the role of saviour instead. While we're on the subject, I'm intensely annoyed by how Bree's PTSD is magically cured over night by sex. Their relationship goes from 0 to 100 and they're in love by, like, 30%. I wish we could have seen that progress more organically instead of all the page time devoted to random bullshit.
I did really enjoy the sweet domesticity kind of scenes with Bree and Archer just chilling, and making dinner and talking. The sex scenes are sweet and the excessively descriptive writing works well there. I wish we had more of that and less gun men and scheming exes hiding behind every potted plant. The unnecessary drama at literally 95% - that I saw coming a mile off - pushed my rating down to two stars. I couldn't take any more of that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Ableism, Abandonment, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Terminal illness, Drug abuse, and Addiction
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