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A review by ehmannky
Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall
emotional
funny
medium-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
4.5
If you go into this book expecting a swoon-worthy romance to be the front and center plot, you’re probably going to be disappointed. I think this series is better classified as contemporary instead of contemporary romance, but it’s still good. I think reading a book where someone who had a mental illness actually fucks up and has to work his way back to health, restoring relationships, and finding himself is good actually and I think Hall really did a good job writing a 20 year old going navigating parental abandonment and a mental health crisis. It’s a well-written book, the anxiety felt real (as someone with a tendency to catastrophize, I really related to a lot of what Paris went through), and I think the romantic reconciliation felt appropriate (a very HFN instead of a HEA) for two twenty year olds who both fucked up (and honestly a lot of reviews on here sort of gloss over the fact Tariq did approach Paris as a project to be fixed and then backed out not all that gracefully when the problem could not be solved by love). It’s well done even if it’s not the romance I think the cover sort of builds it up to be. I do think you should mind the page full of trigger warnings in this one and kind of bow out if they’re not for you.
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment
Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia