sarah_thebooknerd's reviews
850 reviews

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The setting of this one is college. The main characters are 21/22 years old. They are also swimming/diving athletes for their college and Lukas as even gone to the Olympics. Scarlett “Vandi” was injured during a competition diving, and she has had a hard time gaining her confidence back. We do get to see her engage with therapy in the book to work through the emotional aspects holding her back which I appreciated!

Scarlett’s best friend, Pen who is Lukas’ ex tries to pair them together for spicy time because they are both into power play. They agree to engaging in it and have a list they share together. One of my issues with the book was the setup of the list of spicy things they would be into or not and then not much of that came into any of the scenes. A lot of the scenes were focused more on just how deep he was going with a little bit of spanking and hair pulling. It wasn’t at all what I expected given the tension and emphasis put on the list with them. But the name of the book- chef’s kiss, on point there!

I did enjoy the messy aspects of their relationship though not going to lie. Only college kids would think that hooking up with your best friend’s ex wouldn’t lead to jealousy and conflict in a friendship. But that felt real to me given the ages and just how much we all must learn and grow around that age.

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Single Player by Tara Tai

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I can arguably say that I am not a gamer. Outside of duck hunter it was not something my parents allowed, and as a result, I just never got into gaming. I found the gaming aspects in the book to be interesting at times because I was learning things I didn’t know but also, I was struggling because I really had zero idea what they were talking about.

I loved that Cat is described as short and fat, her soft stomach is described, and I really did think that overall, it was positive fat rep. Andi is non-binary and was outed as non-binary in the video game industry and this game is their comeback project from that fall out. I really love that this is a sapphic Asian romance with a non-binary character. I really feel the need to hammer this in because WAY too many were calling this an F/F romance on Goodreads when it is a sapphic one, but it is F/NB romance do not dismiss the non-binary character. We need them in our romances.

Andi is passionate about creating a game where there is a non-binary character that would be one of the first in the industry. Andi also was really frustrated when Cat joins the team because she was there to help write the romance plotlines into the story and Andi didn’t understand why every video game needed to appeal to femme people by adding in romance. I appreciated the way in which Andi pushed back that romance doesn’t need to be something to pull in femme gamers. However, with that said, I also appreciated the way in which Cat talked about the emotional connection that can come in with romances and how anyone regardless of gender can connect with love.

Overall, I really did enjoy a lot of aspects of this book and the characters. There was a sabotage plotline that also keeps you hooked into knowing what is happening. I wish some parts were not as slow and a little less of the gaming jargon for me personally, but I KNOW many will connect with it exactly as it is! I am excited to read more from Tara as this is their debut novel and I am eager to see what they do next.

The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced