Wow, this was an emotional rollercoaster, especially the last few chapters. Really enjoyed how fleshed out the characters were. One could only hope to ever have such good friends as the little club in this story! The book has awesome ace and aro rep, obviously, which made me realise how little I actually knew about these identities

Adorably fucking cute again

Reading this was an absolute delight! This story is heartwarming, wholesome and so full of hope, I loved everything about it. I’m always a little apprehensive when starting a very hyped book, but this deserves all the praise it gets.

5 stars

This was a cute, fun and easy read. I flew through it! While discussing some heavier topics like abusive relationships, anxiety and discrimination in the workplace, it still felt very light-hearted. I especially enjoyed the ending and appreciate the message about ecotourism in the author’s note.

The reason I’m not rating it higher is because this book has an abundance of cringeworthy lines, some just plain ridiculous. Luckily enough it didn’t ruin the whole reading experience for me, but I did roll my eyes quite a lot

Because we don’t really see much of Francesca in the first season of the Netflix adaptation, I didn’t know anything about her character going into this book. She is described as being different to her three sisters as they are “too friendly, too open and too sunny”. So that makes Francesca... more introverted, more reserved, more...? I thought she might be a character that I would recognise a bit of myself in, at least compared to the other sisters, who all seem more outgoing. But unfortunately she wasn’t as fleshed out as I would’ve liked. I just missed something... well something. What I would’ve liked to see more of is her grieving process after John’s passing. It obviously wouldn’t have been a very cheerful part of the book, but I felt like we kind of skipped it? John dies and then oop! suddenly four years have passed...

Michael’s character can basically be surmised as: “I’m in love with Francesca and I don’t want anyone to find out and apparently I’m a terrible rake but you only know that because I tell you so”. And I still enjoyed him more as a character than Francesca. It was all the pining I guess. It might get old really fast for some people, but I’m a sucker for that shit.

Obviously I’m still not an instalove stan, but I dig the friends-to-lovers trope and like I said, I’m also into the unrequited love thing where one of them is pining after the other. Which is how I would describe the plot of this book in one sentence if someone would ask me to.

One of the best things about this book is Colin! Him meddling in his siblings’s relationships is just the best. I love him so much more in the books than in the Netflix series.

3.5 stars

And maybe
there are small
cracks in our walls
and we start to see
a sliver of light
shine through

in each other

4 stars

So the good thing about this book is that I had no idea where the story was going most of the time. I had my suspicions, of course. But I had to wait until the last few chapters to have them confirmed.

Although I knew the story was about a woman who loses her husband and gets to live in an alternate reality with him, it turned out to be nothing like I expected. I stupidly thought this would be more of a romantic story and that there would be more magical realism. Instead, its about grief, about finding yourself again after a great loss, about finding your own strength and place in the world. And about different kinds of love.

Spoilers ahead! Halfway through the book I was already rooting for Lydia to be with Jonah, but I wasn’t quite sure it would be right for the story. I really appreciate the author waited until the very end to tie things up.

Also, how did I manage to read two books in one month with the “husband-dies-grieving-widow-eventually-falls-in-love-with-his-best-friend” trope?!

4 stars

And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.

Wow this took me sooo long to read! The first 10 chapters or so were a bit slow, but that was totally my own fault because I wasn’t in the right mindset

5 stars

Review will follow

3.5 stars