e11e_reads's reviews
86 reviews

I can’t possibly express how much I love this book. I’d previously read the webtoon and couldn’t stop myself from buying the physical copies to forever have this story in my life. The story of Nick and Charlie will always be one I hold close to my heart.

The difficulties of figuring out who you are- they can be quite overwhelming. Especially when you’re dealing with life at the same time. To see Nick and Charlie go through their own journeys, similar but oh so different, touches my soul on another level. Having gone through a very similar thought process of confusion and frustration as Nick, I find this book very relatable.

Whether you can relate to the characters or not, the story is always amazing. Seeing the budding romance, the journey of self-discovery, the troubles traversing mental health issues, and the beauty of friendships. There’s always something, some beautiful hopeful message that comes from reading this series. It’s straight up spectacular.

A big thank you to Alice for helping people feel safe and less alone. For allowing people to see that life can be a big mess but that it’s absolutely worth living for moments like these. Thank you.

ITS JUST SO GOOD!!!!!!! I absolutely love seeing Nick go through his journey of self discovery and watching the friend group merge hehehe

They’re just both so cute and I love this. 10/10. Unbeatable series. Yes. Good stu- great stuff.

The content definitely starts to get a little heavier in this book. It’s absolutely worth it to see how Charlie’s been navigating his own difficulties.

Mental illnesses are so so important and I think this book talks about them in such a lovely way. Struggling mentally can be super scary and challenging. Seeing all the love and support throughout this book is truly touching.

I’m glad to see so much character development and realistic scenarios, not only with our main couple, but with secondary characters as well.

Once again. I absolutely love this. 5/5.

I’d like to start off on a positive note. I really appreciated the representation for trans people as well as people in polyamorous relationships. I was looking for some variety and it was definitely found here.

In all honesty, I want to like this book. The writing is beautiful and truly transports you to the upstate New York farm life. The descriptions are well-written and gorgeous which I absolutely loved.

It’s a short historical romance and I was looking forward to exploring this genre. However, I found this book to be far too much of a slow-burn for my personal taste. In these 167 pages, I found that the real progress in the polyamory really only happened at the very end (definitely past page 120).

I’m not well versed in historical facts so I can’t speak much on that front. The clothes and food definitely seemed more old fashioned and so did some of the going-ons. I must say, these descriptions took up a lot of space in the book.

Now, this is a bit of a spicy book. I did, again, appreciate the way it was written. It seems everyone enjoyed themselves in a consensual manner and it was kept rather vanilla.

My only note here is that in the prologue it is mentioned that these three are all trans in a time where the words for this didn’t exist. While reading the book, I found that although knowing they were trans by reading it in the prologue, I was confused. In 2022, we have gender affirming surgical procedures available but in this book it is rather unclear as to if all of this exists. Insecurities are skimmed over and I’m not sure how accurate this was. All the scenes are kept rather vague so it’s unclear if they’ve taken hormones or made any surgical changes. Other than clothing and Madeline’s makeup, it’s never actually talked about and is simply put as an understanding between the main characters. Had I skipped the prologue, I think I would’ve missed the representation altogether.

*I can understand that writing it this way can be comforting for some. I do think it needed to be worked on a little more. Again, this is just my personal opinion.

On an unrelated note, the illness which Madeline suffers from is random and seems to not have been thought through very well and looks like perhaps an excuse for the mention of drugs.

The overall plot/storyline was rather linear without any big problems occurring. The potential for problems was there. Whether from the past relationship, Madeline’s back and forth between Victor and Audrey, or the problematic townsfolk who are mentioned more than once. I found this to be lacking in the story.

Lastly, I would’ve rated this book higher if it hadn’t been for the typos. Over 15 of them can be spotted throughout the book and it really takes away from the experience.

I wanted to enjoy this. I wanted to learn from it. Instead, I was left confused and dissatisfied. This book has potential. It really does. It might be worth a read for the representation and beautiful prose but, personally, I won’t be recommending this.

“Love can’t cure a mental illness.”

If there was ever a thing to relate to. As always, Alice has done an outstanding job with this volume. I’m of course sad to know only one more will follow but I also can’t help feeling grateful for this journey.

Seeing both sides of a mental illness (how a person feels when they’re struggling / how a person feels knowing their loved one is struggling) is so important and especially relevant now.

Per usual, I can’t wait for the next one.

Thank you, Alice.

What an absolute mind-blowing read.

What a rollercoaster. From start to finish. From diary entries to characters’ retellings. The short chapters were incredibly motivating, capturing my attention, begging to be read.

This book had me on the edge of my seat. Wondering who to trust- there were points where I was questioning every character. Every single one of them seemed suspicious to me in some way.

I definitely recommend this as I can say, despite doubting everyone, I never saw this ending coming. It was very well-executed and left me with an eerie feeling.

What a great way to end the year.
I absolutely loved this. 5/5.