#FirstPersonPOV

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Cassie Alexander, Avery Caris: AITA? (2022) 4 stars

Dear Schmedit: This past weekend my fiancé (24 M) and I (23 F) were at …

Andrea Bramhall, Rachael Beresford: Just My Luck (AudiobookFormat, 2022, Tantor Audio) 4 stars

Genna Collins works a dead end job, loves her family, her girlfriend, and her friends. …

Could have been pretty decent, if not for all the body shaming

4 stars

3¾⭐️/5

When including body self-image issues into a story, there’s a fine line between presenting sympathy and actively body shaming. That line’s going to be different for every reader, based on their own life experiences. For me, this story was well over that line — I just couldn’t get past how often one MC just has body image denigration completely take over her internal narrative pages at a time. Others may find this very true to their own experiences, but for me it was too much.

Tags: #Awakening #CinnamonRollMC #ConfrontingHomophobia #DualPOV #FamilyIssues #FirstPersonPOV #FriendsToLovers #HalfUnavailable #MoneySolvesNothing #MyKidsBeforeMe #RichPoor #SexWork

Graeme Simsion, Dan O'Grady: The Rosie Project (AudiobookFormat, 2014, Simon & Schuster) 4 stars

An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially …

I am far too close to the subject matter to review this objectively

4 stars

3½⭐️/5 (fine, but some quite significant issues)

On the one hand, yay for autism rep in romance, and yay for making the POV MC the autistic one.

On the other hand, making that autistic MC also a buffoon of the “unemotional nerd” stereotype is … a choice, I guess? One could argue that he’s just not interested in engaging in society’s judgment of his differences. And that’s a valid read. But it’s not a particularly positive stereotype, and yet it’s also the stalking horse of the entire story.

There are parts of the autistic POV MC’s experience to which I could absolutely relate. I can’t flat-out say it’s an unrealistic representation. An effort was made?

So … YMMV, I guess.

Tags: #FirstPersonPOV #LearningToLove #Neurodiverse #RomCom #SinglePOV #SlowBurn #StructureMeetsWhimsy

Liz Rain: Perks of Office (Paperback, 2022, Ylva Publishing) 4 stars

When your new boss is hot as hell, what hope is there for a poor …