cielosiluminado's Reviews (443)

cute, easy, fun. i wasn’t a big fan of the underwhelming “happy-for-now” ending though. but this was still an enjoyable read.

please keep in mind that this was nothing like caught up by liz tomforde (another baseball x nanny romance) and strikeout is really different and the two shouldn’t be compared.

mateo martinez and isabella morales were cute. and cringy lol. i don’t know how to describe it, but in the beginning their relationship was insta-something (lust and love...?) and they moved really quickly. their backstories are interesting, though.

mateo (33) struggles with his hispanic identity because he did not grow up speaking spanish and he’s a single father as the biological mother of his 5-year-old daughter is not in the picture as she gave up full parental rights at birth (but there isn’t any drama there, they parted on good terms).

isabella’s story is different, as are her struggles. she’s younger (25) and she had been very briefly engaged to another pro-baseball player 5 years prior, who then publicly humiliated her in the worse way possible. her ex cheated on her 72 hours after their very public engagement and then he leaked intimate/private pictures she had sent him to the press, and she became somewhat of an infamous spectacle and she had to stay low for several years to avoid the negative press. eventually, she rebuilt her mental health and confidence and starts standing up for herself.

mateo and isabella did not have an on-page meet-cute as they knew of each other previously because their mother’s have been best friends for decades. their mothers have schemed to get mateo and isabella together for years. before the story takes place, isa had worked for mateo previously as his daughter’s nanny briefly when they were on vacation and then the story commences when mateo is seeking a full-time nanny and their mother’s meddle to make sure isa gets the job and thus begins their journey in strikeout.

one of my favorite parts of the story were the dominican, puerto rican, and latine representation, which was so beautiful. the bits of spanish that was interwoven in the story felt natural and actually made sense. it did not feel cringy or like trying too hard, as sometimes stories with latino characters do.

overall, the author is a talented writer and the series is promising. the potential couples that have been teased makes me even more interested to see how the entire series plays out. i am looking forward to book 2 as the bonus chapter sold it for me.

comrade orwell is a genius with the metaphors in this. just wow.

i absolutely adore morgan elizabeth’s romcoms. they are always the comfort reads i seek whenever i am in a slump or need something lighthearted, cheesy, and swoon-worthy. and this book delivered that. i was in awe of ava bordeaux and head over heels for jamie wilde. two of the most endearing characters i’ve ever read.

this was a sweet, fluffy, feel-good sapphic love story between a 6ft black goth girl and a 6ft black bubblegum pink gf. i was giggling and swooning nonstop.

the previous history and chemistry made noah and sage really enjoyable to read. their relationship was so wholesome and their banter was entertaining. i also really liked their complex personalities and their personal character developments and growth.

i think it’s important that i mention that the romance wasn’t fully slow burn per sé as a lot of people have claimed but it was a well written rivals to lovers between two co-workers, at least in my opinion. the work environment was so cool and the found family that was formed made me so happy.

overall fun, easy contemporary romance to read. i also am completely in love with the cover!! it’s so beautiful and i just stop and stare at it whenever i see it ♡

ok so look. i hated it but loved it. i get the mixed feelings because i felt them all too.

there was a good chunk of the book where i thought pip – and me lowkey – were hallucinating because it threw me off that much. a plot twist!? but at the same time, it kinda made sense storywise.

all in all, my biggest takeaway from this series is FUCK 12!

oh, and their non-ending ending wrecked me.

ms. jackson, i am kindly asking for an extended epilogue, please and thank you.

despite some of the writing being choppy and the world-building not fully fleshed out, i could overlook that because i was still hooked from the start. there was so much heartbreak, rage, betrayal, satisfaction, and then more betrayal and heartbreak. there was hardly any breaks of reprieve for anyone in this story, but it oddly worked and made the story more devastatingly dark, intense, and powerful.

the protagonist, ikenna amari, is someone you should not mess with. her faults are also her strengths. she is not perfect, makes mistakes, is biased, and struggles just as much as anyone else. her character development was interesting because she was all over the place. she’d take one step forward and progress, and then she fumble and fall back so much. her imperfections is why i found her so endearing and rooted for her nonstop.

i am blown away by this phenomenal piece of work, especially the ending. i cannot wait to get to book 2.

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this was so good i need a second to write a full review omg omg omg??? — RTC

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august 2024 buddy read w/ the book nook club on storygraph 💗 — reading this in september so i’m late to the party, oops!

this was truly so perfect. the angst, the yearning, the communication, everything. it was so emotionally devastating, romantically swoonworthy, such a feel good story, full of hope and so much love, between luke and landon, two fractured souls destined to be together, and their fathers-and-sons relationships.

i wholeheartedly recommend this.

i really tried to love this. but honestly… nothing really happens plot-wise and the story is very dragged on. the characters, although endearing, felt sort of… flat. i was exhausted by the end of the book because i kept hoping it’d improve and surprise me based off the relatively high praise and reviews i glimpsed at, but it never happened for me.

despite it not fully being theory-based or some parts as fleshed out as i wish it was, this book was still... wow. this book was beautiful, incredible, meaningful and very impactful. it contains in-depth, subtle, and very much needed conversations about disability justice, and it demonstrates interconnected disability justice is.

i highly recommend this to anyone who wants to learn a bit more about disability justice.