poegostick's reviews
171 reviews

TW: rape/assault & parental abuse/neglect



This book should have had so many TW on it and yet nothing warned of parental neglect/abuse and rape. it was a total turn off having such graphic descriptions without a heads up. i’m not usually one to be hyper sensitive but i think this is something that should have been warned about in the summary. made finishing the book a pain. was expecting a fun summer romance and instead found awful friends making racist/homophobic jokes in the story and the main characters simply excusing it away as “that’s just how we joke?” didn’t vibe with me.

It was cute at first but the stakes of the fake dating were relatively low. The claim that this book is for black nerds really should just say Marvel fans since that seemed to be the biggest references in the book. Employed a lot of tell rather than show about the characters thoughts and feelings. Had to force myself to finish it after the halfway point.

Loved this book! It was fun, made me laugh, and the characters felt fleshed out for the most part. My only complaint was the climax of the book felt lackluster. Being a romance novel, I know it isn’t the focus of the book, but the plot was so interesting that I felt a little disappointed when it was rushed.

I’d give it 3.5 stars. I liked the premise and it was certainly creepy enough that I questioned reading it at night. I just felt like I never really saw the characters as real people. It’s not for lack of development, I simply think the authors tone colored the story so much that I felt like someone was telling me something they remembered. I didn’t feel like I could know any of these people, and so at times I felt apathetic to their problems. I’d love to see this as a movie adaptation, however. Each scene was laid out like a shot in a movie.

mind numbingly adorable. it was a perfect break in between some heavier books i’ve been reading