Not the most gripping but a pleasant meander

Not as good as the conversational ones. Takes a while to get going and when it does it still isn’t that gripping. Okay though.

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Slow romance

This book was well written but not much happened. I may try the next book to see if more happens in the story.

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Easy listening

Very easy listening. Typical soft romance with the last few chapters with very descriptive sexual encounters.

First part of the book was okay but latter part had an extra spark.

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Beautiful slow-burn romance

This was such a beautifully written book. I have read and enjoyed a few other stories by Cara Bastone, so I know what an intelligent and insightful writer she is. This one did not disappoint at all.

The romance was slow-burn (not usually my favourite), but it made the coming together at the end all the sweeter - and what an epic melding of two souls it was! I am still reeling from the kitchen/bedroom scene at the end, not just because it was spicy (that it was!) but because the author was able to infuse such a deep emotional connection into their lovemaking, something I rarely see in other romances. Sebastian was just lovely, my new book boyfriend. This had all the feels. So good!

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Perfectly uplifting

I utterly loved this audiobook! I listened in my car during my long commute and most days found myself wishing the usually mind-numbingly boring journey was longer.

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The book never got interesting

I listened to the whole of the book and there was no story, nothing happened.

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Disappointing

I had previously enjoyed one of the author's other books 'Call me maybe' which was witty, accessible and fun so I thought I'd give this one a shot, though I'm still not entirely convinced that romance is a genre for me. The storytelling was fine - the author can write and invests a lot in worldbuilding. However, I did find the world she built (contemporary NYC) was not one I recognised - it was a lilly white existence, with a couple of LGBTQ characters sprinkled in for good measure. There were no non white characters and at one point the female MC expresses surprise that one of her colleagues (an older white woman) had been in an interracial marriage! The female MC also has a lament about how an Italian neighbourhood in Brooklyn no longer has Italians - well, sister, imagine how all the under represented minorities feel about their neighbourhoods in say Harlem, Bronx etc. The female MC's best friend is from Bayou country and the way she is depicted feels like full on cultural appropriation. It's fine (and probably sensible) that Cara Bastone does not attempt to write non white characters as I'm guessing she doesn't know any, but what I really objected to is depicting this very narrow vision of one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world - it was jarring. I also did not care for the insinuations in the book that an indication of a well balanced and fulfilled woman is one who has to be a good mother. There were countless examples of assumptions (which I won't list) based on gender stereotypes which I felt the author was endorsing and not deriding. Finally, I could have done without the cringey sex scenes at the end - just felt a bit creepy. The author can write and she shouldn't be faulted for writing about what she knows, just a shame that the world she knows consists of tedious people who look and sound the same.

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2 people found this helpful