romancewithem's Reviews (619)

I really enjoyed the relationship between the MCs, thought it was very cute that they'd been crushing on each other their whole lives and they finally worked up the courage to speak to each other. I really enjoyed their little dates and how there were almost sneaking around to see each other, you could really tell how much they liked each other and how big an impact they had on each others lives, even when they hadn't really spoken to each other before

The huge negative to me was that the sister of the FMC was very annoying and honestly didn't really redeem herself throughout the book. The pranks that the sisters pulled on each other were funny and entertaining but I wanted to skip over any bits that wasn't about the MCs 

- duel pov
- mutual long term crushes
- summer romance

I kinda went into this book blind, I'd seen it around a bit on bookstagram but not really seeing any reviews raving about it so had no clue what to expect. I knew of Julia Whelan from her narrating Emily Henry books and enjoyed her style however I wasn't prepared for the masterclass in narration that was this book. Also I had no clue on what to expect from a writing point of view, I was a fan of Whelan from the narrations side of things and didn't know if that would translate into writing.

I can confirm I love the storyline and writing as well as the narration. This book was so funny, had me laughing out loud from the get go. It also was very raw and emotional at times as well.

I previously said that this was a masterclass in narration as I'm truly not sure how one person could do so many different voices/characters/accents and do all of them well. It blew me away, like it's actually insane

Desperately need more people to listen to this and rave about it cos I really don't see it spoken about enough online (or maybe I need to expand my circles and find people who do) 

I like that EH books aren't straight forward romances and that there's lots of layers to them that characters need to work through to get their happy endings

Also Julia Whelen is a queen and I could listen to her talk about anything and everything

Idk what Elsie puts in her books but theyre all so good!!! 

I love childhood best friends to lovers, with all the yearning and angst it brings and im also a sucked for a road trip with forced proximity and this book didn’t disappoint 

I loved the narrators for this, they did such a good job. 

Deffo didn't end up sobbing through the epilogue, Jasper's found family 🥰🥺

- childhood friends to lovers
- road trip
- sports romance (hockey & ballet) 

I loved this book!! This series holds such a special place in my heart, I love all the main characters

One thing that really thrived in this book were the friendships between all the characters. I loved how quickly the other roommate's adopted Mary into their friend group and became really close. I loved the scene with all of the girls and how supportive they were for each other and there for each other. Also the same can be said for the guys as well (I did miss Holden not being in this book as much tho)

I loved how we truly got the backstory of how Mary and Leo first met and how their friendship developed as well as the fall out of it

 Random list of highlights which may be a little spoliery
- Zeke being so supportive of Reiley (he may have made my cry in the kitchen scene)
- Clay and Giana are the only ones allowed to do the [redacted] trope
- Leo getting his letterman and letting Mary wear it on the roof
- I love Braden and Kyle and glad we got to see a lot more of them in this book
- Mary giving Leo his first tattoo and it also being one of her first big ones
- Leo running to Mary in the stands after their win (gave me 'A Cinderella Story' vibes like the scene at the end of that film idk why)
- Giana being an icon™ and getting into a slump after reading Elsie Silver cos same
- the candles 🥺

- friends to enemies to lovers
- forced proximity

I love this book and love how Julia Whelan brought it to life

I enjoyed this book, even though the romance between Zach and Ruben is a key plot line of this book it was a lot more about how the band are being treated, and their shitty management, than about the romance.

I really liked the character development and how the band all helped each other become better people and stand up for themselves

The end of the book was very sudden for me, like I was still invested in the story and felt like there was room for more without dragging it out, or maybe at least having an epilogue. I don't mind an open ending and not having a story wrapped up in a neat little bow, but this just felt very sudden and wasn't hugely satisfying  

Film >>>> book

The only part of this book I prefer over the film is that you get more interactions with the dauntless born initiates like Uriah otherwise I'm purely team film (which may or may not be because of Theo James)

excited to get stuck into the other books cos they're massively different to the films, I read them ages ago but can't remember them at all (minus the end of allegiant which sucks)