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agustdefault'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
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, and Abandonment
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Car accident
kols'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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, and Self harm
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Gun violence, and Grief
deetabz'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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Ableism and Injury/Injury detail
peachmoni's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Self harm, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, and Death of parent
madamenovelist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
deluna'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Physical abuse and Toxic relationship
Minor: Ableism and Death of parent
kayladaila's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, and Gaslighting
leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Grief, and Car accident
Minor: Sexual assault
toofondofbooks_'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
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Slavery, Abortion, and Suicide attempt
macknificent's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Before I get into my beef with the book, let me be clear that I was entertained by this story. It was filled with big emotions and wit, two of my favorite ingredients for a good time. I found Eva's relationship with her daughter incredibly endearing. It was very “of the moment,” what with the zeitgeist so focused on healing generational trauma. In that same healing vein, Shane's ownership of his shortcomings was refreshing; we don’t usually get a reformed bad boy visibly
doing the work.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get on with the gripes. Firstly, there seemed to be some Eurocentrism and possibly colorism at play. On the cover of the book, both Eva and Shane appear to have darker skin but the text describes them as having traits that would typically be associated with those of a fairer shade, i.e Eva’s loose curl pattern, Shane’s light eyes. Tia Williams is excellent with dialogue but seems to have some issues creating full and nuanced characters in this book. The majority of the adult characters felt like Black Excellence stereotypes, that was disappointing and gave the story a dated feel. The young characters weren’t much
better, especially the disadvantaged children Shane mentored. The only time we hear anything about them is when it’s useful for showing some sort of positive character trait for Shane.
My biggest issue is in making this a romance. For the romance to work, you have to be sold on Eva and Shane’s initial fling being real love so you can buy into the second chance of it all. I couldn’t.
The behavior of the characters during their original entanglement makes sense, they are teens with actions dominated by their hormones and their traumas. Stumbling upon somebody who didn’t immediately judge their coping mechanisms was a rare point of light in a dark and confusing life; it’s no surprise they squeezed every last endorphin out of it.
But this story isn’t about teenagers, not really. It is about two adults that are doing the work to heal themselves, we are told this explicitly and repeatedly. Why then are we expected to root for Shane and Eva as they fall back into their maladaptive, codependent habits? Because this is a romance and we need our HEA.
Overall the book was giving Tyler Perry Production; the experience was entertaining and filled with potential, but nobody trusted the audience to enjoy nuance so it relied on stereotypes to get a lesser message across. Had this story ended with the break up I think it could have been a much better book. After sharing so many big emotions with the characters, a bittersweet ending would have been cathartic and made more sense to the characters’ histories. Alas, that isn’t what we got.
I read this book as part of my #soblacklove2022 series on IG and Tiktok.
https://instagram.com/macknificentreads?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Self harm
Minor: Adult/minor relationship