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catherineatspam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Dementia
ju_harue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death and Terminal illness
Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
beate251's review against another edition
- 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
Abby Jimenez' books seem to have many similarities to each other. They all deal with difficult topics that are made worse by overuse of the miscommunication/ misunderstanding tropes, there is always a cute dog with a ridiculous name, a bearded man, the desire to have children, big feelings that border on obsession, and a couple of mentions of Nadia Cakes.
The characters are full of hangups about their families. Adrian hates his Mum's new husband who turns out to be his Dad, Vanessa's Dad is a hoarder, her brother a layabout and her sister a substance abuser. Her mother is dead and her other sister died from ALS. Vanessa thinks she has it too and thus she doesn't want Adrian to be more than a friend, which stands in direct contradiction to her motto of not stressing about things until they are happening.
So in the first book we had "I can't be with him because I can't have kids", in the second it was "I can't be with him because he's famous" and now it's "I can't be with him because I'm dying". I mean, at least it's original.
I didn't like how the book essentially hammered home how Vanessa would die within a year and Adrian still didn't get it until very late because he didn't watch her videos, then he flipped out and demanded to have a say in how she dealt with it. It was all "I need, I need, I need." Totally selfish and tone deaf.
Also, everyone's problems seemed to get solved a little too neatly and quickly at the end. Hoarding is a mental illness. You can't overcome it in a few weeks with the help of a life coach.
I loved the click-bait chapter headlines, they were very authentic and funny.
The book is eminently readable and the big feelings will have many readers swoon. I think it's the best in the trilogy, but for me it's not up there yet with Just For The Summer.
Graphic: Chronic illness and Terminal illness
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
juanat77's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
zalouis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Dementia and Alcohol
alicelalicon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death of parent
annahamburger's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Grief, and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Stalking, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
laheath's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
nebraskanwriter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
The book started out so well. We see Adrian at his law firm, Vanessa navigating the minefields of her toxic family as well as beginning to take care of baby Grace that her 19 year old drug addicted sister just dropped on her door-step.
But around the 60% mark, things started to fall apart for me. You see, Vanessa from the beginning has made it very clear to Adrian that she has no intention of dating anyone because her family carries the ALS gene so she thinks she’s going to die by the time she is 30 because that is when her sister died from ALS. But then she gets all hurt when she kisses him (while intoxicated) and he doesn’t kiss her back. After this awkward situation, Adrian wants to talk to her about it (like any adult would), but when the next day comes and she agrees to talk it him about it but instead she blindsides Adrian into watching Grace for 4-5 hours while she goes off with some guy Adrian has never met before while they go film content for their YouTube channels. She completley disregards his feelings and even though she promised they would
talk, she refuses to address the situation because she’s “hurt” even though SHE IS THE ONE THAT SET THESE BOUNDARIES AND TOLD HIM SHE WOULD NEVER DATE ANY ONE BECAUSE SHE IS AFRAID OF DYING. Like how dense can a person be? Geez Louise. And when Adrian explains this to her and tells her he was just doing what she had said from the get-go, she gets even more mad and projects all over him.
I liked the rep of the ALS subplot story-line as I feel like that illness is one that is not talked about, especially in romance novels. But Vanessa’s crippling doom that she is going to die by the time she is 30 because she MIGHT have this disease kind of drove me crazy. Especially since she refuses to do anything about it, including getting an actual diagnoses from an actual doctor. Her wrist/hand is tingling/ losing feeling so this sends her into a spiral. When Adrian finds out that its hereditary and that she could have the gene, he encourages her to find other ways to possibly live longer but she refuses, yells at him and then hangs up on him, promptly ending their relationship. She then goes off gallivanting for a few months in Europe, trying to find herself, and Adrian has been taking care of Grace this whole time in the states and is actually going through the process of adopting her.
The author tries to paint Vanessa as the one sibling who has their life together and who is not toxic but honestly, she TOTALLY is. She emotionally manipulates Adrian literally all the time. The moment something doesn’t go her way or he disagrees with her/does something she doesn’t want him to do, she freaks out. She also drops Grace like a sack of potatoes (much like her 19 year old sister did that she’s “so much better then”) and Adrian is the one who steps in to take care of Grace.
The whole second half of the book was just absolutely ridiculous. I understand that you would have a lot of emotional baggage with all that these two characters have gone through but my gosh, the way Vanessa treated Adrian was not okay at all nor was it romantic in any way. It was not a healthy relationship, she just used him because he was grounded and an attorney so he could help her with literally all of her family’s criminal drama and as a built in babysitter for Grace.
Not cool, very disappointed in this book.
Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol
grifgirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol