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amberharley's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity, Dementia, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
noellegrace8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I will also say, this created and beautiful yet seemingly unattainable picture of a man. He babysits her kid, helps her family, etc. without having any sort of real responsibility to Vanessa. While it sounds nice to have someone who cares so much about you, this did seem a bit unfair and odd because no realationship boundaries were actually established. And lastly, more than anything else, the conflict portion of this book (because we all know Jimenez ALWAYS has one!) is a nightmare. Both of them have unrealistic expectations of the other and have not communicated their boundaries or concerns, and when they finally do, it's mean and terrible.
This is why I didn't really connect with either of them as characters - they don't make very good decisions. For example, Adrian allows his boss to use and abuse him as a worker. And then we don't get comeuppance on-page, plus we lose one of the only sidecharacters, Becky. And Vanessa is 100% enabling her family. She doesn't have good boundaries and financially allows them to flounder because she's always there to save the day. As someone with eight siblings, I completely understand her compassion. But as a human being with general needs, a grasp of basic cause-and-effect, and a limited supply of money, I don't understand how Jimenez didn't more blatantly condemn Vanessa and her family's behavior. Also, Adrian having that issue with his dad and Vanessa just chalking it up to petty grievances was such an overstep, and just having the tension evaporate afterward felt underwhelming and unrealolistic.
The book was enjoyable, but it had a couple flaws that could have made it even moreso.
I give Zachary Webber 5/5⭐'s.
I give Christine Lakin 4.5/5⭐'s. While her narration is typically great, she struggles a bit with secondary character accents (tends to want to make them southern for some reason, and her Australian one is not good).
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
syza17's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Terminal illness and Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, and Death
Minor: Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment
erinmassey23's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, and Pregnancy
beate251's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Abby Jimenez' books seem to have many similarities to each other. They all deal with difficult topics that are made worse by overuse of the miscommunication/ misunderstanding tropes, there is always a cute dog with a ridiculous name, a bearded man, the desire to have children, big feelings that border on obsession, and a couple of mentions of Nadia Cakes.
The characters are full of hangups about their families. Adrian hates his Mum's new husband who turns out to be his Dad, Vanessa's Dad is a hoarder, her brother a layabout and her sister a substance abuser. Her mother is dead and her other sister died from ALS. Vanessa thinks she has it too and thus she doesn't want Adrian to be more than a friend, which stands in direct contradiction to her motto of not stressing about things until they are happening.
So in the first book we had "I can't be with him because I can't have kids", in the second it was "I can't be with him because he's famous" and now it's "I can't be with him because I'm dying". I mean, at least it's original.
I didn't like how the book essentially hammered home how Vanessa would die within a year and Adrian still didn't get it until very late because he didn't watch her videos, then he flipped out and demanded to have a say in how she dealt with it. It was all "I need, I need, I need." Totally selfish and tone deaf.
Also, everyone's problems seemed to get solved a little too neatly and quickly at the end. Hoarding is a mental illness. You can't overcome it in a few weeks with the help of a life coach.
I loved the click-bait chapter headlines, they were very authentic and funny.
The book is eminently readable and the big feelings will have many readers swoon. I think it's the best in the trilogy, but for me it's not up there yet with Just For The Summer.
Graphic: Chronic illness and Terminal illness
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
carmenvillaman's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, and Chronic illness
biojesspj's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent and Abandonment
katharina90's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
1.5
A baby is used as a prop and the way in which topics like addiction, mental illness and disability are handled feels off to me.
Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Death of parent
Minor: Ableism and Cultural appropriation
cady_sass's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Also, marry me? Just kidding. Unless?
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment
karolinaz's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Stalking, and Car accident