simonlorden's Reviews (1.38k)

I received an ARC through NetGalley, and below is my voluntary and honest review.

This book was a bit of a roller coaster. I was immediately drawn in by the kind of Star Wars-vibes cover, and the main character being a scientist who is looking for extra-terrestrial life. Like, that's just so cool, right? Looking for aliens as a job sounds ridiculous at first glance, but the universe is so vast, it's actually very logical that intelligent life exists out there somewhere, even if we won't find them anytime soon. First impression: positive.

Then I absolutely hated the first 30%, and thought about stopping several times. And then, finally, I was won over by Gwen and Ty's relationship and their character growth, and ended up enjoying the rest of the book.

I'll start with the negatives because they came first. A lot of the comedy in this book relies on second-hand embarrassment, which I had thought was universally agreed to be unpopular. Then, the two main characters ending up in the same place was initially kicked off by a long-ish scene that involved Gwen's scientist coworkers being incredibly misogynistic, and I'm sure it was meant to be comedic, but it wasn't. A bit later, while Gwen was busy suffering, all I could think was that she could have avoided at least half of this if it wasn't for the hella sexist assumption she (or rather her best friend and advisor) made earlier. Not a great start to the book.

Forget love at first sight. It'll be love at first fight for this girl.

Fortunately, Gwen and Ty actually had great chemistry, so things improved greatly once they started spending time with each other. I liked their banter, and I love a relationship where they can have debates without actually turning into fights, and it tracks with Gwen's expectations for her future relationship. The plot itself was interesting, and I liked how the side characters were gradually fleshed out as Gwen got to know them better, and how Gwen and Ty themselves had a lot of character development and defining moments.

One last thing I want to pick out is Ty's brother, Michael. Michael is autistic, and Ty has been essentially raising him alone since they were kids, so their relationship is pretty tight. Now, I'm not autistic myself so I'm not the expert opinion on this, but... to me, Michael felt about as stereotypical as you can possibly get in a book. I mean hey, autistic people are diverse and maybe the author based Michael on someone she knows, but it just Happened to hit basically every autistic stereotype I can think of, so it didn't feel like positive representation. Also, I have to warn for significant past ableism from their father.

In summary, after a pretty rough beginning I found this a fun and romantic book, with some really heartwarming, romantic and funny scenes between the two leads. Many of my problems disappeared as the book went on, and my unease with Michael is the only thing that really stayed until the end.

(Okay but also, Ty becoming a billionaire through the power of hard work? Kinda irrealistic.)

edit: I only realized when I went back looking for a quote that there is no further mention of Gwen's fuck-up from the beginning where the teacher said their asses would be sued into oblivion.

Kids finding their doors is always bittersweet, but at least it doesn't always mean we'll never see them again.

Also, Kade!! I feel like this book opened an opportunity for him that he might not have considered before, so I'm curious what he'll choose once he gets there.

this had a really interesting time travel plot, and i liked the relationship ending, it was unexpected. unfortunately i couldn't really get attached to any of the characters, so it was a bit of a struggle to read through to the end.

I don't want to talk about it

 Kicsit megijesztettek a könyvklubon, mert sokan mondták hogy nem tetszett nekik a könyv, de szerintem nem volt rossz. A végén a háborús és politikai rész nem annyira tetszett, de alapvetően egy nagyon szép könyv. Kicsit lassú folyású, két nő életéről akik fiatalon találkoznak és végül egymás mellett, majdnem házastársként (de persze nem lehetnek azok) élik le az életüket, több évtizeden át. Nagyon tetszett Bertha és Hanna karaktere, és hogy Bertha mennyire felfigyel Hanna férfias ruházatára, viselkedésére. Az is tetszett, ahogy Pederhez viszonyultak, bár nem lehetett saját gyerekük. 

I like Casiopeia a lot. she just wants to stargaze and swim and drive a car. relatable.

I loved the concept (age gap incest, dubcon) but the dialogue went waaay too hard on the edginess. I don't think this writing style is for me, which is a shame because the concepts are really A+.

I received an ARC through NetGalley and this is my voluntary and honest review.

I liked the first book and I liked Isabelle in it, so I was hopeful for this book. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment. At least half the plot was driven by the characters making stupid decisions (Isabelle getting attacked at least three times after doing stupid things, Gryphon falling asleep in the wrong place after years of living with his condition...), and I didn't really find the main pair likeable, nor did I feel the chemistry between them. I found myself skimming a lot in the second half of the book.

Having Garrett be part of the plot was interesting in the end, but giving him actual POV chapters was a bit strange. This isn't his story anymore, and I expected this book to be more standalone - but that might just have been my expectation based on other series where each book focuses on a different character. Either way, I feel like some of his POV chapters could have been a short story or something instead of part of Isabelle's book. Including him also meant twice as many side characters that didn't really feel fleshed out.

Lastly, I can handle one reveal of "these two characters are secretly related/linked together", but two is a bit much for one book. Is EVERYONE in this universe related by plot somehow? That's a pretty being coincidence.

-- I know that good feedback is supposed to include something positive as well, but honestly, I struggle to name anything that I really LOVED.

That being said, the next book is Little Mermaid retelling, so there's still a chance I'll pick it up.

the first half of this book was mostly annoying. Naomi sleeps with a criminal, but whines about them actually doing crime. she wants Malcolm to miss her and not just the sex, but they haven't done anything except sex in the book, so there's nothing to miss.

ironically i liked the second half better after their initial breakup. Gas Station Greg is my favourite character.