rachelmerrie's reviews
373 reviews

Nothing like the movie, but cute. Probably wouldn’t read it again though. 

The order of my emotions while reading this:

🙄😴🥺🥰🤢🤮🙄🤢🤮🥹🙄😴

The first half was boring as hell, I guessed the entire book and the next two within the first two chapters and almost gave up. 

The sex scenes were vile, probably the nastiest thing I’ve ever read (and not in a good way). 

There were a few cute moments between the main love interest, but most of it was over the top cheesy (again, not in a good way). 

The music was a vibe though. 🤠

The smuttiest smut that ever did smut. 🥴

The 20% of the book that wasn’t corn got me thinking that every person who has told me they’re sure I’m autistic might be onto something. 

Kristin Hannah’s a great writer, this book from the 1990s is no different. 

I gave it 3 stars because I personally hated who was chosen and everything that happened because of it (that’s as much as I can say without spoilers). Once this event took place, I had a difficult time caring about the second half of the book because I was furious. Furious to the point of putting the book down and contemplating picking it back up. Not everyone will agree with me; therefore, I think the book is still worthy of 3 stars. 

I’m not claiming to know more than this doctor with 30+ years of experience, but I do believe that many of his recommendations were tactics I’ve used many times. It could be because of the people I was raised around or my educational background, but not much in this book was revolutionary to me personally. With that, there were many things I didn’t agree with, mainly the idea that in order to maintain relationships with people in “cults”, we need to communicate with them the way they want and need to be communicated with. He also suggested people on the outside of cults be apologetic and choose our words wisely when speaking to “cult member”. I don’t think it’s fair to the people who lose loved ones to “cults” to have to be the people to do everything they can to maintain the relationship the way the “cult member” sees fit. Every single person on this planet faces hardships, some more than others, some more “drastic” than others. These hardships do not give a single person the right to treat other people like garbage. In the moment, irrational reactions happen, but repetitive behavior is unacceptable (in my strongest opinion). It is no one’s responsibility to get someone out of a “cult” or change someone’s mindset but the person who is in said “cult”/mindset. Loving someone and wanting them in your life is one thing, but taking on the burden to bend over backwards to maintain that relationship will only lead to resentment, false expectations, and disappointment. 

The first half was great, but the second half was strange and struggled to hold my attention. 

A quick and easy read, though the characters and aggressive smut were enough to dock this review 2 stars. 

Prettttty good. Not sure if I’d purchase or re-read though.