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caitlinspeachyreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
garbage_mcsmutly'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
3.75
🌶️ 3/5 multiple explicit scenes but the spice just wasn't spicing for me
🏳️🌈✊ Both characters are Black/mixed, I think? FMC is biracial (Black and white); I was a little unclear on MMC's parents' races, but he is Black. FMC is fat and she deals with fatphobia, both personally and societally. Props for the mental health & pro-therapy story lines; we love a king who's been in therapy for a decade lol
Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, and Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
- This could have been 150 pages shorter.
- Insecurity is different from self-criticism without reason. Stevie is a perfect example of the latter. It took me almost five months to finish this simple romance book due to Stevie's persistent "woe is me" attitude, which I found annoying. Note to Stevie: the world does not revolve around you.
- Bad writing. Liz Tomforde consistently stated the obvious. For example,
when Stevie's dad was explaining that her maternal grandmother was harsh to Stevie's mom, leading to Stevie's mom's similar behavior towards Stevie. He was discussing the difficulties for Stevie's mom and hinting at generational trauma. However, in the next paragraph, Stevie's dad explicitly labels it as generational trauma. Such repetition was not a one-time thing and it became frustrating. It seemed as if Tomforde underestimated the readers' ability to understand the narrative without explicit explanations. An author should trust their eloquence to convey the message to the audience. This led me to speculate that Tomforde lacked confidence in her explanatory skills, hence the need to state the obvious.
Bonus: “Pop/s a shoulder” or “shoulders pop/popping” was mentioned 15 times. Why can't you come up with a more fitting adjective to describe something like that?
Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming and Abandonment
Minor: Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
frantically'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
The relationship was so so good but mainly it was so real and godddd, these two really had me on the edge of my seat, fighting for them in the end 😭😭
Like, is the third-act-breakup realistic? Yes. Did they both have good reasons for acting like they did? Also yes. Did that make it hurt any less? NO
liz i will be sending u my therapy bills
Truly, one of the best plus-size MC's I've read in SO long and like everything else, it was just so realistic. Yes, Stevie does love her body sometimes. But sometimes she hates it. Because that's what life as a plus-size woman is like! *cue to me crying*
As I said, in the end there were some.....moments that weren't it for me, there were so many missed chance and those things just infuriate me lmao so this probably isn't like a 5 stars more like a 4.75?? Or still a 5 i can't decide
But stillll, the breakup was healthy! Love that for them
As soon as I got over the 40% mark, I really spent every moment thinking about reading this book, so yes, would definitely recommend!
Still don't believe romances need to be longer than 300pgs but for Stevie and Zee, I'll forgive it.
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
caitlinemccann'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
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Minor: Infidelity, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
btwnprintedpgs'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
apolen's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Minor: Violence and Injury/Injury detail
finnickdeservedbetter'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
4.5
- POC FMC & MMC
- Sports romance
- Forced proximity
- Mid/plus-size FMC
- Forbidden relationship
- Healing from trauma together
Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
andeng'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
Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Infidelity, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail