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1.07k reviews by:
bookrecsbyjess
I didn’t like how the main character was towards her teacher.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
UPDATED REVIEW
What it's about:
What it's about:
Professional baseball player Gavin
Scott is devastated when his wife Thea asks for a divorce. When his friends find out, they invite him to join their secret book club where they read romance books to help them understand their wives better and to fix their marriages.
I read this book back in 2021, and I loved this just as much a second time around.
Quick Thoughts:
> I loved the friend group so much and their book club
> I remember being frustrated with Thea a lot the first time I read this book, but I didn’t mind her so much this time
> I loved how sweet Gavin was in trying to win back his wife
> Thea’s sister Liv was pretty irritating in this book
🎧 Audiobook Thoughts: I loved this narrator for Gavin’s part and that there was a separate narrator for the romance book. I do wish that there would’ve been an additional narrator for Thea’s POV.
⚠️ swearing & a small amount of bullying
🌶️ multiple open door scenes (can be skipped easily)
PREVIOUS REVIEW
This book definitely lived up to the hype. I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read the whole series.
The book club was hilarious. I couldn’t get over how funny the guys were when discussing the romance novels. The fact that they use romance novels as manuals cracked me up.
It was easy to root for Gavin the whole time because he tried so hard to win Thea back. It was frustrating that Thea didn’t seem to care about saving their marriage at all even though she was part of the problem. I felt bad that Gavin had to do all of the work instead of them both trying to fix their marriage.
Gavin and Thea had a lot of cute moments together. The fact that Gavin had a stutter that Thea accepted wholly was heartwarming and made Gavin a more realistic character.
Thea’s sister Liv was really terrible in this book considering how much of a jerk she was to Gavin.
The other guys in the book club were a fun addition to the story, and I’m excited to read their stories as well.
Overall, I loved this book and highly recommend it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Infidelity
lighthearted
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Shoshanna was a hard character to like. She was so immature and continued to make bad choices throughout the book. I liked that the story took place in a bookstore, and Myra was a good boss.
Even though there were issues in the story, it was still a fluffy contemporary.
I liked how awkward and cute Shoshanna and Jake were.
I do think some things seemed pretty unrealistic, but it was an overall cute story.
dark
tense
I had heard a lot of good things about this series of graphic novels, so I decided to read one. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with the book.
The art style was cool, and I liked that it took place in the 1980s.
The characters were really unlikable though. Also, the plot was not very good. The story jumped around and a lot of things didn’t make sense.
The graphic novel format didn’t lend well to the story because it made the plot confusing. There was also a lot of swearing for a story about 12 year olds.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Gun violence, Blood
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dark
The art style is what drew me to this book. The colors and illustrations are beautiful. All of the characters are so pretty. Some of the dialogue was good, but everything else about this book was confusing and terrible.
The plot was all over the place. I was so confused the entire time while reading this book. Literally nothing made sense, and Nina’s family was terrible.
I would only recommend this book for the illustrations.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Death of parent, Alcohol
lighthearted
medium-paced
It was interesting to read part of Twilight with pictures. The characters looked different than the actors from the movie, but I actually liked some of them better (especially the vampires). I also liked that it was quick to read.
I didn’t like how the formatting took away from the story. If I hadn’t read the regular books first, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this book as much. Also, the font used for the parts that weren’t dialogue was hard to read.
Overall, the book was enjoyable, but the original book was better.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Blood
lighthearted
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This was a cute contemporary romance.
I loved everything about Ace. He was such a gentleman to Karina, and he had such a great and charming personality.
Karina was an okay character, but I hated that she let her parents be so controlling to her even though her brother was treated differently. Karina’s parents were so awful. I couldn’t stand how they treated her. Dadu was really great though.
I did really love the fake dating aspect of this story.
Overall, it was a good story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
Prior to reading this book, I knew some of Forrest Galante’s story from watching Extinct or Alive. It’s one of my favorite shows, so I was excited that Forrest was writing a book too.
I loved this book! I rarely read any non-fiction books, so it was a nice surprise to find one that was easy and quick to read as well as super enjoyable.
I loved learning about Forrest’s childhood and all of the cool animals he had as pets growing up (I’m super jealous). Previously, I knew some of his background, but it was still sad to read about some of the things he experienced as a kid.
I didn’t know much about the time between his childhood and when he started Extinct or Alive, so I found that section to be really interesting. I liked reading about his time after college where he spent time doing mundane things as a biologist.
The behind the scenes parts of Extinct or Alive were also awesome to read about since I love that show so much. It was really hard to read about the Great Auk episode with the brutal whale murders. I saw that episode, and it just brought back all of those terrible images from it.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone that loves animals and nature.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood
Minor: Cursing, Violence, Medical content, Murder