Emi
3.25/5 stars
I just love having opinions, which is why I read this book ASAP, because you can't form a solid opinion without doing research (contrary to the beliefs of my family on Facebook). And to be honest, I was expecting to come out of this read with my very own pitchfork and burning torch. I just love the Beauty and the Beast villager aesthetic.
But do you know what (much to my dismay)? This wasn't horrible. I'm not in love with it, and a lot of the book I did hate, but like myself at age 2, there was so much potential. Will that potential also get wasted like mine did? Probably, but I'm gonna be optimistic.
Because while yes, the worldbuilding wasn't sturdy and it took almost the entire book for me to become somewhat attached the characters....and the writing was annoying at times...and there was no build up between scenes and plot points, but I expected much work. There are fantasy series that are much worse and we as a book community should be spending our energy on hating on them instead. cough Gild cough
Shout out to my boy Oro for carrying most of this book, he's the true VIP.
1.5/5 stars
I hate how there are questions that I will never know or understand the answer to. How does someone as perfect as Harry Styles exist? Where do broken hearts go? How do airplanes fly when gravity exists? How the fuck did this book get published???
There was nothing redeemable about this book, especially our main character Bree, who is not like other girls. I hope she goes broke when she inevitably has to pay for a divorce lawyer.
2/5 stars
Oh my God, finally it's over. There was literally one scene where I said out loud, “If she dies, that would be so good.” and honestly I stick by that, it would have made this book so much better.
This book did have some plus sides, from a diverse cast of (side) characters to being sex positive with a huge emphasis on consent. Everything else though was just not good. It was drawn out and lackluster.
It has potential though, if you take it apart and rearrange the scenea into something that makes sense. I think I was just hoping for a slowburn? This was the opposite of a slowburn.
Urghh, I just remembered that I had to read an entire scene of him making her orgasm in an Uber. Maybe I should give this one star
2.25/5 starsThis is a hard one to rate, because while the romance in this book was absolutely dog shit, one of the most lackluster and chemistry-lacking romances I've ever read, the rest of the book was interesting. It tried to create a discussion on the culture of elite gymnastics and the abuse that has surrounded it. However, thinking back on it, I don't ever felt like it really dived into the brutality of elite gymnastics and mental health. The representation was kinda superficial? It could have opened that door a bit more, even if it's a hard topic to approach. But instead, I felt like I was told about the issues instead of being shown. They didn't affect the main character, but the side character (Hallie, the best part of this book), but we never get to see how Hallie deals with this other then a few scenes of Hallie obviously needing a therapist but no one really doing anything other than giving her a pep talk. And these issues were based off real events. We all know what happened, but if you need a reminder, the US gymnastics team doctor (who's name I won't mention, because I don't want to give that disgusting excuse for a human any more attention then he deserves) sexual assault over 100 athletes. For years. This is not something that something that should be written about and fictionalized to be a subplot for a romance novel. It wasn't handled poorly in this book, but it could have been much, much more impactful and tasteful. The book [b:Break the Fall 45993634 Break the Fall Jennifer Iacopelli https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563188107l/45993634.SY75.jpg 68996280] may be a YA book, but I still think the same topics were less sugar-coated then they were in this book.
This book actually started out okay but it after I realized how childish the MCs were at handling conflicts...and I'm still waiting for the main characters to have actual chemistry....
Also there's so many reviews calling this a slowburn? Like what? Did we read the same book?
If your name is Bonnie, please just scroll past this review. Thank you.
2.25/5 stars
I actually kind of feel like a horrible person for not liking this book, especially because everyone else seems to love it and because the themes were important and probably incredibly relatable to many people, but urgh, this book really just missed the mark for me.
This is the second Alice Oseman book I've read and I can now conclude that their books just aren't for me. I had the same problems with this book that I did with [b:Loveless|42115981|Loveless|Alice Oseman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1590592497l/42115981.SY75.jpg|65704946]: while the representation was amazing (“effortless” is how one review I read describe it, and I very much agree), I loathed the writing style, the plot never felt like it was obtained, and I couldn't care less about the characters and their drama.
Shout out to the representation in this book. We love to see it.
But I also hated the characters and dialogue and overall plot. Talk about allosexual propaganda.
Honestly this book could have been a great, diverse feminist read but it really missed the mark.
And Prem, the male mc, unironically called his dick “Charlie”?!?! And that he literally pressured Kareena into dating him? And showed up unannounced to “rescue her from a date”
2/5 stars
This book had so much potential, but it missed the mark so much. The dialogue was so stiff and often unnecessary. I never felt connected to any of the characters. The entire book was 350 pages of weak plot. There was a good overall plot, but the character-specific plot gave me nothing. It was an original idea-witches that helped control the climate-but the plot was Nothing New (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault).
1.75/2 stars
The only reason I'm rounding up is because of the representation in this book. The only plus.
But urghhhh, I hated everything else in this book, from the cringey dialogue, to possessive and pushy characters (cough Michael *cough) , to the way that I felt like it implied that people find happiness from being in relationships and giving grandbabies to their parents, to some of the worst (&cringeyest) smut scenes I've ever read to the fact it was almost like the book was trying to suggest (as other reviews have pointed out) that it's possible to fuck away autism. Ummm... No thank you.
April 2021 review:
This book is so good, I'd give it a 10 stars... but that's not possible so I give it a 5...
This is probably my favorite go to comfort read at this point. I can already guarantee I'll read it again before the end of the year
June 2020 review:
For absolutely no reason other than because it can be, this is my favorite contemporary novel. There is absolutely nothing special about it, but it makes me so, so happy. And every single year, I pick it up again and reread it, wondering if I'll feel the same unconditional love for it, and I always do. I love it so much.
