This was stunning book. Learned a lot, great writing style, very engaging. Will be thinking about for a while. Will probs be in my top 15 of the year. 

tbh just uninterested, it wasn’t BAD. I was not captivated and I didn’t enjoy that the two protagonists felt 2D. The writing lacked nuance. 

LOVED!!!! 

Nate Hawkins is irrefutable proof that men written by women are Built Different™. He’s protective, thoughtful, emphatic in his feelings, and cares deeply. A dream boat!! 

This didn’t need to be 13 hours long (on audio obvs) but I also never wanted it to end bc I had such a great time. I read about 10-15 books a month and anticipate this being my fav one of April. 

Lots of great small discussions about consent which continues even once Nate and Stassie get together, which was good to see. On that note, the “enemies” part of the “enemies to lovers” is over quite quickly. 

I enjoyed the relationship with her first person (I forgot his name, Ryan maybe) and how that was portrayed. It was always friendly continued to be friendly throughout. In many situations I can see this being portrayed negatively or one of the two spiraling out as it evolved but it didn’t! It was just pleasant. 

I enjoyed how clearly Stassie was able to communicate her feelings and all her discussions of therapy and the mental health benefits. 

I’m used to the hockey gays which are wildly explicit but also have book covers of oiled up shirtless men with 12-packs so you know what you’re getting into. Don’t be fooled, this book is spicy AF. Truly I was taken aback. I loved it don’t get me wrong but you MUST prepare yourself for that going in bc it is a surprise with the cute little illustrated cover. 

The epilogue was the ultimate wish fulfillment which meant I was surprised by the very last scene bc I thought it must have already happened, knowing these two. So not quite the grand finale the author was anticipating but still very nice! 

My only real critique is that Aaron was just such a universal Bad Guy that it was frustrating watching Stassie fight so hard to keep him in her life when he did terrible thing after terrible thing. We only hear references about the brief good times they had in the past, we didn’t get to experience it so it’s like…why is she having this internal struggle, he’s clearly the worst with no redeemable qualities. Tbh I wish we got to hear more details of how things turned out with him. I’d like to see the consequences of his own actions please and thank you!! 

My other complaint is about the next book in the series: I desperately want it to be about Henry and it’s NOT!! Don’t make me fall in love with him and then not immediately provide me with his story!! Alas. 

only downgrading this to 4.5 stars instead of 5 bc I found the writing slightly clunky/straightforward/simple in some instances. Not in a bad way, but it took me a bit to get used to. 

Overall super great, learned a lot, checked a lot of unconscious bias I didn’t know I had, and enjoyed that he called himself an “evil raccoon” at various points. 

Well. This is a book that exists. 

Let me start by saying when I first read the description, I immediately sent this to my best friend who loves to critique weddings/the wedding industrial complex/social pressures to get married/etc. She also loves thrillers. I thought “what could be better for her?” 

And the answer is I will be texting her after I write this to say not to read it. My book club chose this as our April pick or else I would’ve DNFed it. 

I didn’t hate this, and I did read it quickly because my whole experience was one large “huh.” Not enough to make me put it down, but I did mostly continue reading so I could roast it to my friends later. I don’t even want to get into all the reasons I disliked it but the main things are:
• a sledgehammer to the face would be more subtle than this book. The morals and theme were quite plainly and unequivocally stated even though it felt like it was written to be a “wink wink nudge nudge” situation. To be clear, I am quite liberal so I am onboard with the content, it was the delivery that completely lacked finesse that bothered me. 
• very weird to be set in an alternate universe where everything is the exact same except there’s a more intense, government-supported focus on marriage and weddings. I’d forget this was not a standard contemporary world and then someone would say “she was approaching the “rotten” age where after that no man would marry her” and also “yeah we slaughter a bunny before the wedding to chase away marriage ruining spirits” 
• I dislike the narrative style when the narrator is…reflecting back on something that has happened as if they are addressing the reader. Eg “Years later I would remember this moment and ask myself if…” and also “looking back, it sounds ridiculous but it honestly didn’t occur to me that it could be her.” These are both direct quotes. It’s a sudden shift in the writing style (bc most of it isn’t like that) and a blunt way to make the reader take note of the suspicious happenings just described, in case we didn’t pick up on it ourselves. 
• Why did the two (platonic) best friends shower together so frequently? Can’t believe that was mentioned so casually and never addressed afterwards, but in middle school/high school they started taking showers together (naked, in one of their homes) and kept doing it through after graduating COLLEGE. This was described a few times, and this is literally a sentence in the book: “We would take showers together, at first wearing bathing suits, then eventually discarding them. We compared nipple hair, butthole hair, labia length and color, the amount of discharge left on our underwear at the end of the day, the blood clots clinging to the side of our tampons like red slugs.” And the rationale is bc they wanted to be as close to each other as possible and also otherwise they ran out of hot water. What?????
• truly cannot believe the epilogue, the two of them each only scratched the surface of their issues/beliefs/judgements despite the book’s premise making it seem like they’d be doing a deep dive and resolve everything. 

I know I said I wouldn’t get into all the things I disliked and then wrote a lot of detail about several aspects, but once I started I couldn’t stop. And those were just the first things that come to mind, I’m sure I’ll think of other things later. 

I was riveted and I didn’t really expect to be, tbh