eralbesu's reviews
278 reviews

This book was a pleasant surprise! It reminded me a bit of Jumping the Broom. I something struggled to understand the motivations of Mae, but by the end of the story it became very clear and made all the sense in the world, considering her history with her family and people pleasing personality. 

I really enjoyed this book.

This book was very well written and I really enjoyed the voice the writer brought to Calla, though I didn’t like Calla as a protagonist. I felt like the book leaned so heavily on animal instinct to explain her motives which I believe was intentional but it left me feeling like I was reading about a speaking animal at times. I would have like to have more depth into why she was making the choices she was making. 

I see why this book is so polarizing because it feels like it could easily be a beloved book of the right-wing misogynistic, tradwife, anti-abortion crowd but I think the book was much more about choice at its core, than motherhood. But I will say the passages about pregnancy, birth, and a desire for motherhood seemed to have been the most thought out and the portions of the story about choice and lack of autonomy felt almost like a device or lens to just look at motherhood. 

I’m still trying to navigate my thoughts on this one and get to the root of what exactly made me so uncomfortable about this book. But I would like to study this book in an 11th grade English class or something lol 

Very interesting premise. I enjoyed the story 

This book was so unique. 

This book meandered a bit a was dripping with French arrogance but I didn’t hate it. The ending really set the tone. I’m still not sure how to feel about the book as a whole. 

This was cute. Sweet and lighthearted. The fake dating storyline somehow felt like it escalated quickly. The MCs were lovable. 

The most interesting things about this books are the cover and the setting. The backdrop of a small western town did a lot of heavy lifting. The characters felt a little run of the mill, but I enjoyed Emmy and Amos for the most part. 

It was cute. Romance isn’t the easiest genre for me to read, so I think romance readers may enjoy this more than I did because I believe it hit a lot of the marks that readers look for. 

Also, I saw it blurbed as a slow burn and it absolutely was not giving that ~to me~ also the graphic sexual content felt slightly overdone. These two were horny little main characters, that’s for certain. 

Not in the head space for this one. 

I enjoyed some of the stories more than others. Virgins, Snakes, and Robert E. Lee Is Dead were the standouts. I really like the way Danielle Evans writes, but so often her stories are left open ended and I’m left wondering what I was supposed to take from it. 

I like how the language she uses feel so authentic to the Black American experience from a certain era. Her stories feel real and I like how she explores concepts like the US Military preying on young Black children without being so in your face about it. 

This is was cute. The little bit of magical realism from the town definitely felt like an afterthought though. I like that the characters felt realistic for the most part. I enjoyed.