booktribe's Reviews (603)

I just really didn’t have any feelings about the characters or what was going on

I went into this book expecting it to be lighthearted & cute, but instead it’s pretty sad and triggering for me. One main character is recovering from sexual assault and the other main character is a caregiver to his mother with multiple sclerosis, and subsequently his little brother as well. 

There were cute moments, but overall it triggered me a lot and put me in a bad place mentally, so I couldn’t continue.

A winning lottery ticket is meant to be a new start in life, but instead becomes a second chance at love in this rom com!

I started out absolutely LOVING this book! It kept me cracking up, I loved the characters. Leo, our male main character, became one of my all time favorite book boyfriends! Even though he was far from perfect, he was so devoted to her! The couple’s past, since this is a second chance romance, was so real. And although, Leo made some big mistakes in the past, he grew a lot, and I still rooted for them to work everything out and get together. I loved the relationship between Miri, our woman main character, and her mother! (I actually would love to see Miri’s mother and *you know who* get a book👀) And I was also pleasantly surprised that this book had bisexual representation! The first half of this book was so funny and cute, I loved it!!

But the second half felt like a completely different book. It wasn’t cute or funny anymore. It went from our characters having all these cute moments, to just them thinking about each other, but barely interacting. They sorted through the same thoughts over and over again. His feeling like “I hate myself for hurting her, but I have to get her back.”, and her thinking “I love him, but he hurt me and I’m scared.” And though those thoughts should definitely be had in a novel like this, I don’t think they should’ve been had repeatedly for like 40% of the book. That made the last of the book drag for me.

I’ll be giving it 3.5 stars because I loved the first half of the book so much! Also, there are characters from Jodie Slaughter’s other book, Bet On It, that make appearances in this book. I haven’t read Bet On It and still read this one with no problem, so it can be read with no prior knowledge!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

Corny, but I really liked it lol

One of the main characters in this was incredibly judgmental & mean, and I wasn’t interested in the other main character either, so I couldn’t get into the book.

I enjoyed this novel! I like that in this magical world, we follow a main character with no magic, who is a warrior and can still fight these magical people (and win😉)! I also enjoyed the various queer representation (f/f, m/m, and trans rep)throughout this book and how it was completely no big deal in this world. Queerness was celebrated in this novel!

I will say that it definitely was a shock to me when I found out that 2 adopted siblings had a romantic & sexual relationship in this novel. I know they’re not blood related, but they did grow up together and they refer to each other as sister, so that was something… But other than that, I enjoyed this! 

If you’re looking for a short fantasy read with a warrior main character, this is for you! (Just mind the trigger warning of the adopted sibling relationship)

Thank you Neon Hemlock Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review!

In a VERY shocking turn of events, I didn’t enjoy this. Very sad and triggering for me.