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833 reviews by:
juliaegreene
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i liked the premise of this, but the writing didn't work for me. dual POV is great with these kinds of stories, but i felt like the couple's issues were less about growth and more about keeping them apart. i would have liked to see more of the sisters without feeling like their relationship issues were such a huge part of their character.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
self acceptance! friendship! family! complex mother/daughter relationships! i really did not like alex, which was difficult since he was a pretty big part of the middle of the story. i think the hopeful ending instead of a happily ever after was a perfect choice for this book!
read “a thousand more” by chloe gong and “bloody, lovely” by casey mcquiston
mysterious
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Despite really wanting to like it, I had some trouble with this book. The last 20% was fast-paced, surprising and full of action, but the 80% before that was none of those things. It was repetitive and I felt like nothing happened. What I loved so much about the first Finlay book has been lost somewhere along the way as the plot gets dragged out to fill 4 books. The last part of the book was exciting, but I'm not very interested in reading the series now that cops are such a huge part of the story and it felt really pro-police at times. I hope the next book has more Vero in it and in a less hypersexual way. She's really become the most intriguing character throughout the series.
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
thoughts on this book:
- i did not like bee. at all. she was super annoying, very stupid for someone with a PhD, and felt like a pick me/"not like other girls" kind of woman. i felt like she was only vegan for the sake of making her seem special and same thing with the whole running plotline.
- levi is a fine male lead. good, even. but ali writes him like his size is the only important quality about him for the first half of the book, and it just gets worse as bee gets to know him and they have sex (more on this later). hulking, towering, huge, massive, broad, big, tall, 6'4", oh my fucking god it never ended. and bee being like 5'2" just seemed ridiculous. overall, he seemed like a good guy, but all the shit with his family seemed unnecessary and he genuinely just needed to go to therapy (i feel like it was only mentioned that he'd gone before to make him more of a desirable Self Aware romantic lead). i normally love love love an obsessed male lead (go ahead, be a simp!!) but considering how long ago he fell for bee and the time in between that and the story, it just seemed weird and kind of creepy at times. like, why is she your phone passcode? do you even know her? ugh.
- the miscommunications between the two of them were unreasonable. bee wearing her grandmother's ring ON HER RING FINGER was just dumb and created unnecessary tension for 2/3 of the book so that levi would think she was married to tim.
- side note: the whole fiance/cheating/best friend plot seemed thrown in only when it was convenient for the story or to keep levi and bee apart
- i was not expecting them to be FWB, which again was an unnecessary miscommunication. she thinks he's just getting a crush out of his system, he wants her to move in. JUST TALK. OH MY GOD.
- okay, the sex: honestly, it was just cringey. ali's writing is a whole lot of things that i want to get into, but the sex scenes felt very immature at times and like she thought she was writing super deep and well in others. the way their size difference came into play made me really uncomfortable, and the way levi talked to bee and bee thought about him felt really possessive and steeped in gender roles.
- the plot itself (BLINK, guy, the way the romance progressed) felt very predictable. i've read the love hypothesis, so i felt like i knew what ali wanted to do from the beginning and could call what would happen when a character or issue was introduced for the most part.
- side note: the shmac thing was predictable but fine for the most part, though i did hate the huge paragraph that everyone was thirsting over. dude, why are you sending all that shit to A STRANGER? boundary: crossed
- another side note: the cat? really? unnoticed in a NASA facility? and only to serve as a plot device when bee has A GUN pointed at her head? all of the plot climax was ridiculous and i didn't see the point. ali tried to go big and it really did not work for me.
- ali's writing in this book was so much worse than TLH. the millennial humor, the galaxy leggings, the unprompted and honestly annoying interjections of rants on the GRE and marie curie that just overloaded the book, all of them could have been made into a drinking game that probably would have poisoned me before the halfway mark. my favorite thing to hate was the TM jokes that i think were supposed to be another quirk of bee's but instead made me want to scream. i unfortunately didn't have the ebook, so i couldn't search, but i counted 41 instances while reading the physical version. even 2 was too many.
- things i actually did like: wlw!! banter was not terrible at times! fuck standardized testing!!
- i finished this book last night, so i think i might need some time to process still, but as of right now i'm going to give love on the brain 1.5 or 2 stars. i originally was going to do 1, but i think the fact that it was such a fun experience to hate it should count for something.
- fuck reylo all my homies hate reylo
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i actually cackled and also cried reading this book. don't normally go for a celebrity/reality show trope, but thank u to isabella for shoving it at me. mental health rep was so good (too good? ouch) and while the way the romance twisted was sad and hard to read at times, it did feel very realistic. this one has a balance of fantasy and real life, which goes really well with the actual plotline. charlie ily
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i have committed a great public transport faux pas and laughed on a silent bus because of this book!!!
talia hibbert's writing is perfect for a YA romance: she's funny, flirty, a little messy at times, and very honest. i really enjoyed the mental health rep and how this book balances romance/friends/family. full of heart, humor and a little bit of hate, talia hibbert's YA debut is not to be missed!!
thank u to netgalley and joy revolution for the eARC :*
talia hibbert's writing is perfect for a YA romance: she's funny, flirty, a little messy at times, and very honest. i really enjoyed the mental health rep and how this book balances romance/friends/family. full of heart, humor and a little bit of hate, talia hibbert's YA debut is not to be missed!!
thank u to netgalley and joy revolution for the eARC :*
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emma lord maintains her status as a comfort author! begin again is one of her heavier titles, but i love how she handles subjects like death of a parent, moving away from home, feeling stuck, and cheating (content warnings for the first and last!). andie is a perfectly awkward and lovely main character to make mistakes and smile with, and i loved the supporting cast of characters as well. the radio plotline is the strongest part of this novel and really hooked me. i enjoyed the romance, but it did feel a bit like it was rushed at the end, especially with all the stuff with andie's boyfriend at the beginning of the story and milo's uncertainty about his future. other than that, i fell easily into this and it was very cozy and fun!
thank you netgalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC :)
thank you netgalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC :)
