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purplepenning

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No

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hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
emotional inspiring reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

So, I accidentally-on-purpose read this book (#2 in the series) before The Queer Principles of Kit Webb (#1) … and I think I kinda liked it that way? 

Unnecessarily long explanation: It was on purpose because I had the ARC for Marian Hayes (and Rob's) story and I read it even though I knew it was #2 in the series, but it was accidentally out of order because I didn't really intend to go back and read Kit Webb (and Percy's) story. But, as often happens in these cases, I liked #2 and decided to go back and read #1. 

All of that to say that I was very happy to discover that I wasn't really "going back" and reading out of order — the stories take place concurrently, fitting together to give the whole story. I preferred this one overall. As you can imagine, it has a more satisfying, more completed feel to it. I'm also just quite fond of both Marian and Rob, those brilliant dummies, and the way their relationship works (specifically how consent is worked into this historical, where we don't often get it, and how non-penetrative sex is featured in this M/F relationship, where we don't often get it). So, yes, I'd rate this one just a little higher, but really I think the books are both best when taken together, no matter what order you happen to read them in.

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

This one was hard to rate. It's ambitious and weird (in a good way) and the first half didn't work as well for me as the last half, but it averaged out into a pretty effective, genuinely moving, certainly interesting romance that I'll probably be thinking about for some time. And it's a smart, interesting, contemporary that's not super explicitly steamy, which isn't always that easy to find. (I don't mind the steamy but I'm always looking for good closed door contemporaries to recommend to others.)

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings