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reba_reads_books's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book is written for complicated, messy women. It's for women who need to be told, "It's okay to be uncertain, and when you're certain, it's necessary to be honest. Don't be ashamed." So, naturally, most of the highly rated reviews heavily shame the MC. This MC simply does not do what most people want her to do, but this reader was praying for the ending that shockingly did happen. So many of her realizations were highlight-able for me, with great writing to boot. However, I agree with other readers that this debut novel's author wasn't given the Stephen King advice of "cut 10%"; in this case, 10% of redundant internal monologue. Overall, for me, still a worthwhile read. Spot on "Out of Your Comfort Zone" recommendation from The Storygraph.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Medical content
Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, Grief, and Alcohol
danileah07's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Infertility, and Antisemitism
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
sarmc's review
challenging
sad
tense
fast-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
1.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders
kirbylover16's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
There are pacing issues and redundancies everywhere. It takes half the book to get to the castle, which was the main reason why I wanted to read this book. (like Netflix's A Castle for Christmas) The other was for a romance/HEA, which I didn't get either. We meet Guy One, who does get fleshed out only for Zoey to ruin it. Then we meet another guy and, it seems like we're getting enemies to lovers but, Guy Two doesn't get fleshed out. Some descriptions made me cringe, " face with meeting a significant other's makers...Men are made in a way incapable of having an uncomfortable conversation with their female maker "
The author continues the tradition of misinterpreting Robert Frost's poem as it's about how different paths are interchangeable, not taking a path less traveled. There are references to James Bond, The Proposal with Ryan Reynolds, and clothing brand name-dropping every two seconds.
I can't connect to the main character Zoey. She's so privileged, immature, and super self-centered. She is edgy just to be edgy, which could work with teenagers or preteens but not adults(she's 29-31). Tattoos aren't that big of a deal. Also, she keeps pushing Guy One to have sex with her in public even though he's said no. If it's not clear, they're not good for each other. I connected with Ryan more and thought he deserved better.Ryan doesn't owe Zoey anything. It's his family's wedding, not Zoey's and, it's 90 days/3 months later. Zoey even knew he was coming with someone else. Mara is hot get over it. We zoom past cheating. Then It's revealed Ryan didn't tell Mara about his two years with Zoey and that he wanted to marry her. Effectively ending my empathy towards him and shifting it to Mara
The author continues the tradition of misinterpreting Robert Frost's poem as it's about how different paths are interchangeable, not taking a path less traveled. There are references to James Bond, The Proposal with Ryan Reynolds, and clothing brand name-dropping every two seconds.
I can't connect to the main character Zoey. She's so privileged, immature, and super self-centered. She is edgy just to be edgy, which could work with teenagers or preteens but not adults(she's 29-31). Tattoos aren't that big of a deal. Also, she keeps pushing Guy One to have sex with her in public even though he's said no. If it's not clear, they're not good for each other. I connected with Ryan more and thought he deserved better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility and Infidelity
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, and Gaslighting
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
llamareads's review
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-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
3.0
First off, I’ve seen several places billing this as a second-chance romance. It’s most decidedly not; while Zoey’s romantic arc is a major feature of the book, it’s secondary to her own growth as a person.
Zoey is a self-proclaimed free spirit, perfectly content to be by herself. Her version of happiness is not having plans, not being tied down to anything, and the worst thing she can imagine is being permanently stuck with someone forever. But while she loves rom-coms, she’s never been in love herself – until Rylan. But when he wants what she can’t give him, they disastrously break up. Heartbroken and lost, she agrees to be the bridesmaid at her best friend’s wedding in Ireland, a wedding which her ex will also attend. But after watching three brides fail to make it down the aisle, Zoey’s decided that she’s the problem (oy, self-centered much?). Somehow, her fear of tying the knot is somehow subconsciously influencing her friends to have doubts. If she can get just one of her friends married, surely that will fix whatever’s wrong with her and she can say yes to Rylan happily. Fourth time’s the charm?
Zoey is a self-proclaimed free spirit, perfectly content to be by herself. Her version of happiness is not having plans, not being tied down to anything, and the worst thing she can imagine is being permanently stuck with someone forever. But while she loves rom-coms, she’s never been in love herself – until Rylan. But when he wants what she can’t give him, they disastrously break up. Heartbroken and lost, she agrees to be the bridesmaid at her best friend’s wedding in Ireland, a wedding which her ex will also attend. But after watching three brides fail to make it down the aisle, Zoey’s decided that she’s the problem (oy, self-centered much?). Somehow, her fear of tying the knot is somehow subconsciously influencing her friends to have doubts. If she can get just one of her friends married, surely that will fix whatever’s wrong with her and she can say yes to Rylan happily. Fourth time’s the charm?
“I liked maps that didn’t lead to destinations. I was all about the journey, refusing to give intense thought as to where it would trap me.”
Zoey’s a complicated character. By that, I mean she’s a complete and utter mess (except for her career, of course, where’s she’s complete #bossbitch material). I vacillated between dislike and apathy for a good chunk of the book. She’s frequently self-centered, judgmental and rather shallow. So when she falls – hard – for her best friend’s cousin? Schadenfreude. Rylan may wear boat shoes, but he also owns an apartment in a brownstone that could frankly be featured in a Room and Board catalog and he seems to truly see and appreciate all of Zoey. While she’s prided herself on the fact that she’s always been upfront about her commitment to no commitments, with Rylan, she can’t quite get the words out. So when he proposes after over a year of dating? It’s a shock, but she should be able to finally say “yes” – if only for her curse. Frankly, I didn’t care much for Rylan, as he seemed fine with Zoey’s “quirkiness” until it clashed with his own expectations. Plus, his actions at the wedding – including showing up with a date who, it turns out, is clueless about his past relationship with Zoey – were so jerkish as to make him unredeemable to me.
There’s a lot of backstory that clogs up the pacing. The first 10% of the book covers Zoey’s first three attempts at being a bridesmaid, followed by the saga of her romance with Rylan. That part of the book was, well, aggressively fine. Sure, it was cute and everything, but as a romance reader, it just felt like it was missing something. It’s only during he second half of the book – once Zoey arrives in Ireland – that the pace picks up and I finally got engaged. There’s some truly funny bits (the Loch Ness monster had me laughing like a maniac) but what really kept me going was the train wreck-quality of watching all the messy characters interact. Because, while Zoey may be the messiest character in the book, the rest of the characters are all vying for second place. Hannah, a pinnacle of WASP perfection, has been Zoey’s best friend since they were tiny, and their friendship survived all of Zoey’s moves throughout childhood, despite their very different outlooks on life. They’ve been there through each other, thick and thin, but after a couple of truth bombs that could lead to marital issues down the line, Zoey’s determination to see Hannah walk down the aisle might not be the best thing for her best friend. Hannah’s future BIL, Ezra, who’s fresh off a divorce and deadset on convincing his brother that the marriage is a bad idea, is possibly the least messy, though he also gets points for being hilariously sarcastic.
Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded down to three, since it’s just aggressively fine. If you can get past the beginning, it’s a fun read, though most decidedly not a romance. Recommended if you like messy characters being their messiest at a destination wedding.
I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Antisemitism
anoveldestination's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me a copy of this book to review!
A character who uses Taylor Swift's Red album to cope with her breakup. A wedding at a castle in Ireland. A choreographed dance to Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." There were so many aspects and scenes in this book that I enjoyed.
However, this book was a slow start for me, and it took me a while to get into the story. The beginning starts with a lot of backstory, and I would've enjoyed it more if this backstory was dispersed throughout the book instead of dumped at the beginning. Once I got a third into the book though, I started to enjoy the story lot more and I couldn't put the book down once our main character travels to Ireland for the wedding.
In terms of characters, I found Zoey to be a strong character, and how she processes her heartbreak was very relatable. However, I found her internal monologue repetitive and annoying in a lot of places. I loved Zoey's relationships though, especially her friendship with Hannah. Alison Rose Greenberg uses this relationship to explore many themes related to friendship and feminism, and I appreciated all of the themes this book chose to explore. However, in some places the book became a little preachy with its themes, rather than letting its character relationships and arcs speak for themselves.
Outside of friendships, the romance in the book was also well written. I really believed Zoey's love for Rylan, their chemistry, and her heartbreak. While I loved the romance and friendships in this book, I had some issues with the pacing and our main character Zoey. Still, if you're intrigued by the synopsis of the book, I'd recommend it. It was overall an enjoyable read for me, and I think it delivers on the promise of the synopsis.
A character who uses Taylor Swift's Red album to cope with her breakup. A wedding at a castle in Ireland. A choreographed dance to Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now." There were so many aspects and scenes in this book that I enjoyed.
However, this book was a slow start for me, and it took me a while to get into the story. The beginning starts with a lot of backstory, and I would've enjoyed it more if this backstory was dispersed throughout the book instead of dumped at the beginning. Once I got a third into the book though, I started to enjoy the story lot more and I couldn't put the book down once our main character travels to Ireland for the wedding.
In terms of characters, I found Zoey to be a strong character, and how she processes her heartbreak was very relatable. However, I found her internal monologue repetitive and annoying in a lot of places. I loved Zoey's relationships though, especially her friendship with Hannah. Alison Rose Greenberg uses this relationship to explore many themes related to friendship and feminism, and I appreciated all of the themes this book chose to explore. However, in some places the book became a little preachy with its themes, rather than letting its character relationships and arcs speak for themselves.
Outside of friendships, the romance in the book was also well written. I really believed Zoey's love for Rylan, their chemistry, and her heartbreak. While I loved the romance and friendships in this book, I had some issues with the pacing and our main character Zoey. Still, if you're intrigued by the synopsis of the book, I'd recommend it. It was overall an enjoyable read for me, and I think it delivers on the promise of the synopsis.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Infertility
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders
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