cielosiluminado's Reviews (443)

miles and daphne were actually really cute despite how different they were and their banter was so amusing. the story, however, was kinda boring sometimes…

don’t get me wrong, it was cute. it was fun. but it was nothing too special. i liked the messiness, i liked the drama, i just wish there was more of it. some of the ‘drama’ was just so anticlimactic in the end.

emily henry does have a knack at writing beautiful and funny found families, especially when they are from small towns—as demonstrated in this book as well. i loved all the wacky side characters we met that helped our main characters come to their senses.

so in the end, though it took me a bit to fully get into the characters and story, i quickly became invested because i felt the chemistry between miles and daphne and i loved how it grew naturally.

despite this being a second chance romance centered around miscommunication, i actually loved this??

the entire time i was rooting for wyn and harriet. they were so endearing and i wanted to protect them at all costs. their banter and sarcasm was so entertaining and had me giggling nonstop. very early on you could feel the connection between them and you could see how they were made for each other. soulmates.

throughout the entire book, you could see how much they ached and yearned for each other despite being incredibly different but similar in so many ways? it was beautiful to read. i really loved how they didn’t rush back into being together and instead focused on their own self-growth and healing. and in the end, i loved how we saw them go through their own separate self-discovery journeys and then finding their way back to each other. it was so impactful, and i really liked how none of their journeys was downplayed by the other and was encouraged and supported.

this isn’t only a romance book, it’s also about friendships, found families, and aging. despite the friendships in this book being so strong in the beginning, it demonstrated how friendships evolve over time as once you’re an adult, friendships can become so difficult to maintain as everyone is in different stages in their life and have different priorities, time restrictions, etc. seeing this (once) tight-knit and dysfunctional group navigate through adulthood made me crave for friendships like it. a conclusion i have drawn from it is that friendships can also be platonic love stories. and those might be some of the most beautiful relationships one can have in their life.

despite how much i loved the book overall, the ending was honestly rushed and sort of out of character? i understand how big and impactful harriet’s self-discovery journey was supposed to be but the decision she made shocked me because it felt unrealistic, especially in this economy. in a perfect wold where one doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, the ending would’ve been perfect. but for me, it was just an unrealistic, silly, rom-com HEA.

NORA AND CHARLIE WERE SO CUTE!!!! their banter was so much fun and i have no complaints on the romance parts of the book as their relationship progressed naturally. it read like a hallmark movie and i was vibing.

ramblings about what bothered me—tldr: let my girls remain city, career-minded girls! stop taking them to small towns to “change them”. and unfortunately the sisters’ miscommunication was atrocious and overshadowed a lot of the romance parts which explains my star-rating.

some things that irked me so bad was (1) how the family angst and resolution played out and (2) how nora was considered “cold” to the very end. if she were a man, she’d be called ruthlessly ambitions and no one would say anything about her being career-focused, not wanting children, not wanting to move outside the city, etc. but because she’s a (tall) woman, she faced so much criticism, professionally and personally. i don’t understand how nora’s relationship with her sister libby is so revered when libby was one of those judgmental people that saw nora as cold and unfeeling. and how they made up so quickly which pissed me off so bad.

i understand why people love emily henry’s books and after reading this one, i can say it’s my favorite one to date.

i really wanted to love this because poppy and alex were so cute and funny. but sadly i personally can’t rate it higher because of the lack of communication being the reason why they went 2 years no contact + 12 years in total of being in love with each other but doing nothing. it was so frustrating when reading and learning more of their background/relationship, and seeing how blatantly the lack of communication made them (and me) suffer.

read like 5 sentences and nope’d out

cannot take anything seriously because they are high schoolers

january and gus were actually really cute and endearing. i really like how this was written and how their relationship progressed naturally. some things other (minor) characters did had me feeling meh, especially when those characters were given a type of redemption arc which i wasn’t about. but the book was still entertaining overall.

don’t really understand why it’s titled “beach read” when the protagonists weren’t big fans of going there and they go there like max twice throughout the book?

better than wild love but something is still missing in this series. i cannot put my finger on it though.

get yourself a man who is as obsessed with you as he is with his cat

the hidden identity trope in this was alright but what really made this book more captivating was the single parent trope as that one always eats