Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Something to Talk About

The characters felt too much like characters in a book and not like real people. It felt like the author knew the book needed to follow specific beats to be classified as a romance book and did nothing outside of that with the characters. The scene where the main characters are finally together and have sex felt like it was from a different book. The vibe from the book was that it would be a fade-to-black scene, but it was not.

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taelights's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book had so much potential, I'm so disappointed that it turned out like this… Like usually I love workplace romances, boss/employee pairings, age gaps, and slow burn. It had so many things I love to read about but it fell so flat because the execution of it just wasn't good.

First of all the entire book is built on pointless conflicts and miscommunication. I'm not a fan of the miscommunication trope to begin with because I think it's a cheap annoying thing to rely on to create drama in your book but I'm more understanding if it's like one or maybe two scenes. But it was literally the whole book.

The characters didn't act their ages at all. Like supposedly Emma was in her 30s and Jo was in her 40s but they acted like teenagers most of the time. I'd give them early 20s at most. They were just both so immature for supposedly grown women. This felt like it should have been a YA book rather than an adult book.

I also felt both characters were one-dimensional and didn't have much in the way of character development. Their actions were dumb and if their ages weren't explicitly stated I would not read them as grown women. Also personally I think Emma calling Jo by "Boss" all the time was annoying.

Usually I love slow burns but this one got to the point that I was getting very frustrated in a bad way. Like nothing really happens between them until the last 10% or less.

Finally I know sexual harassment is unfortunately a prominent thing in Hollywood and an important topic to discuss but I felt it being included in this book was pointless and felt out of place. Also taking such an important topic and using it as a plot device to make two characters forgive each other after a fight felt a bit icky to me personally.

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kayladaila's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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cheesepuppy's review against another edition

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emotional

4.5

Super cute slow burn

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and_abelard_reads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

I need to know Wilsner's A03 handle *right now*

Points for:
- fanficcy fluffy goodness
- Hollywood creeps getting wrecked wish-fulfillment
- slowest of burns on the colleagues-to-friends-to-lovers
- Top tier Pining
- Actual Character Reasons for the miscommunication plot stuff
- Hot-Older-Millionaire determined to be the Anti-Mr.Rochester. Nice

Overall - Fluff with depth. Very domestic despite the glamorous setting. I might drag myself out of YA and this book slump yet.

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eamily's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? No

5.0

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