rainbowbrarian's Reviews (1.85k)

Sakura is a total jerk to Tatsuya.  Really put off by that, it COULD have been a cute dynamic, but then Sakura tries to get him into bed by plying him with alcohol!  NOT OKAY.

We Could Be Heroes by Phillip Ellis (@philipellis) - I have no idea how to rate this one out of 5

Thanks to @netgalley and Penguin Publishing Group for this ARC copy.

Okay friends... I kind of loved this books... all except for one scene.  But I REALLY really hated that one scene.  So I am kind of struggling on how I rate this one.  It would have absolutely been a four stars read, save for the obligatory “things get ruined” so we can have the tension and the breakup and then the reunion.  I am a lover of romance novels so I don’t have a problem with the formula, per se, but the way this one was done... just felt bad.

OKAY, so, it’s a romance between a closeted ‘All-American’ movie star and a Birmingham UK drag queen.  And I have found that I really enjoy romances with drag queen characters.  I love a skewering of toxic masculinity and they deliver that.  

Our movie star, Patrick, is stuck with a morality clause in his contract which means NO GAYNESS ever, but he falls for Will (aka Grace Anatomy) and they have a little secret fling while Patrick is filming a superhero movie about Captain Kismet (sort of a golden age of comics superman type) in the UK.  They have to keep it quiet and so the relationship goes as you might expect with appropriate tension around the whole not being able to be out thing.  

My issue comes when they hit a boiling point and break up.  I felt like Patrick’s behavior in that moment came TOTALLY out of left field.  I don’t think anything in the writing had lead to him blowing up in such a spectacularly awful manner.  The callous and borderline abusive way that he treats Will in that moment was inexcusable.  I know he was under stress, but DAMN.  Not cool.

I did love the red carpet moment at the end. Also I haven’t even touched on the cool historical plotline with the creator of Captain Kismet that was snuck in there. I could have read a whole book about them.  It felt very Cat Sebastian and we all know how much I adore Cat’s writing.

I’m a bit long winded here, but I am torn about this one.  I liked 90% of this.  But MAN, that other bit.  Bugged me. 

 This book was cowritten by a wife who has ADHD and her neurotypical husband.  And I really loved getting to see that dual perspective on how they both perceived events and ADHD challenges. The emphasis of their work together through their relationship is remember that it’s not a him versus her thing.  It’s a THEM versus ADHD thing.  Remembering that she wasn’t doing things because she didn’t care or was lazy (that is a bullshit word, BTW), or didn’t respect her partner.  

I can’t emphasize enough how helpful it was to read how she experienced a situation and then how he experienced it and how they eventually learned to manage frustrating and stressful circumstances with love and compassion.

The strength of Rox’s symptoms are much more intense than my wife’s, for which I am thankful, because Rox has had some really tough times.  But the takeaways still help.  

Read This If You - are in a relationship with a person who has ADHD and want to learn how to be a better supportive partner.  Need help figuring out how to talk about ADHD challenges.  I literally wrote down one particular phrase and asked my wife how they would feel if I said that instead of what I might otherwise say.  

This is just a book of pictures of pretty house decor into which people have piled books.  Not impressed, I was hoping for instructions on how to make these spaces, not just decor porn.