Okay, hi, so, two star review.
So I know that a lot of you absolutely adore this book and I can totally see why. In theory, I should adore this book as well. I love that Stella is autistic, who DOESN'T love a good fake/pretend relationship trope? Not me, I ADORE them.
However, there were a couple things that bugged me in this book that might be important for some of the potential readers to know.

First off, I didn't love the sex scenes. Because as it turns out, I am not a reader of explicit fiction. In fact, I even got annoyed after a while and this is the first book where there was more than one sex scene in it aaand... yeah, so not my thing.
Then, and somehow this is part of the sex issue... actually I have a lot of issues with the sex - please bear with me I realise this is a very confusingly structured review but my mind is literally going in circles over this so, yeah.

The thing is... Stella does not like sex. The entire first part, she reads to me as asexual who tries to make herself have sex. She does plenty enjoy it with Michael later on, don't get me wrong, but for the first part I kept cringing because it was obvious she simply didn't like sex. The description of her just lying there while men grunted above her made me uncomfortable and I just wanted to shake her and tell her it's okay and that she never had to have sex in her life again if she didn't want to and that she still was completely fine just as she was (ace positivity, y'all!).

Continuing with the men who had sex with her even though she froze up: there are several non-consensual kisses in this book, as well as touches. Again, not my thing, makes me uncomfortable. Mainly because while some people might say "well, a kiss is just a kiss", I still see it as several characters forcing themselves on other characters in this book and I just do not want to see that happen IRL so I don't want to see it in a fictional world either.

Lastly, I get queasy around serious illnesses. I do. It's just a thing for me. So if anyone out there feels the same, I had a pretty rough time reading about Michael's mum who is incurably sick.

Coming to the good parts (because yes, there were some!) I did quite enjoy the characterisation of Stella living with her "disability" and being sick of that label, trying to navigate her life as normal as possible because she doesn't want to be defined by that. I also think Michael was a great character. I also think the two of them would have had a lot of chances to be great together outside of the bedroom tbh. I loved Michael's Vietnamese heritage and its representation in this book and I think the scenes with the whole family (including GRANDMA!) were my absolute favourites. The book also has a lovely message which is ultimately to be proud of who you are and to do the best that you can but not more and not less. That it's okay to ask for help and to accept it. And that you are lovable no matter what.

This book would've made it to my not finished list just because the negatives were such negatives for me. However, the positives made me stay on because I did want to know how it ended and I can say that it ended in a very satisfying way and that I am happy to now put it on my read shelf :)