Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Love Unwritten by Lauren Asher

8 reviews

geminimarsss's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Let’s be real, Nico is the real star of the show. That little boy is so adorable and funny and I want to fight his mom 😤 he deserves so much better and I’m glad he has Ellie in his life. 

Rafael and Ellie were cool too, I guess 😏🌺
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ciara_fs98's review against another edition

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dark hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved every second of this book and am so happy that Rafael and Ellie grew together instead of letting their insecurities get the better of them and splitting up
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witcheep's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Lauren Asher has become one of my favorite authors to read as soon as possible, and this book just solidifies that resolve. Love unwritten tells the tale of two people who have been through some serious trauma both in their childhood and recent relationships. They are afraid to give second chances to feeling big feelings with anyone, but slowly finding connection with each other and their families, they relearn to be open to caring about others and letting them care for you as well. Asher writes this process in such a real and emotional way that you can't help but get sucked into the lives of these characters.

The MMC Rafael is a millionaire grumpy single dad who is afraid to let anyone close anymore. He has been hurt too many times in the past by those he considered dear to him. Now he struggles to have a realtionship even with his son, and keeps everyone else at arm's distance to hide his struggles. Letting new people is even harder because of all the stacked up trust issues he has gained through is trauma.

  Loneliness might be temporary, but heartbreak?
     That emotional damage can last a lifetime.
– Rafael

Ellie is the nanny to Rafael's child Nico. She is a hopeful romantic and a songwriter, but is afraid to go after her dreams in the music business, because she has past trauma of doing just that and getting exploited and disregarded. That trauma hinders her love life as well, because her trust is waning.

 "We can want a lot of things, but it doesn't mean anything if we don't put in the effort to make any of it happen."
– Ellie

The romance between Rafael and Ellie is a delicious slow burn. Both of them struggle with admitting to even themselves how smitten they are with each other. They take steps forward, but also backtrack and make mistakes; e. q. they struggle with trust issues, mental health struggles, and the power imbalance in their work situation mixing with the relationship/situationship they begin to give in to.

"Things were never going to work out. You didn't value me or my time enough, while I valued your family way too much. It would only get worse with time, so you firing me just sped up the process."
– Ellie to Rafael

The key is that they are willing to work on their own issues as wel as, eventually, they are open with communicating their feelings and needs with each other. That lets them find out how right they could be for each other.
 
"The one does exist, but not in the way you thought I meant, like some soulmate or something cosmic. To me, the one is someone willing to do everything in their power to be the person you deserve, not because they are fated to love you but because they choose to."
– Ellie to Rafael

This constant working on themselves and helping each other with that process made me feel, at times and in the best way possible, like I was reading a sneaky self-help book that lets you see a process of therapeutic healing of someone you care about. Seeing how determined both Ellie and Rafael are to work through their past traumas affecting their current behavior and to become better versions of themsleves makes me feel very hopeful. The book is full of insightful quotes you could frame to get motivation to work on yourself as well, and I love how they are so ingrained in the character's personalities that it comes across truly compassionate.
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ayrisabella's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really really enjoyed reading this book. Lauren Asher’s writing is so delightful, and she’s truly a master of the romance genre - I just keep enjoying her books more and more, and with each I read. 
Although I will say, this book is 612 pages… no book that doesn’t require world building should be more than 500 pages (in my humble and experienced opinion). While I devoured this book, and loved the alternative approach to the romance structure, it did not need to be this long, and I found myself struggling with the pace in the last 20% or so. Although I adored the characters and the romance, I can’t give it 5⭐️
I do still highly recommend this book as a bit less spicy than her other novels, and truly a beautiful love story. Please please check content warnings, some SH plot points and depictions in this book I found pretty hard to read, although it is a very realistic and respectful portrayal. If you find SH  themes difficult to read this isn’t the book for you.
Other than that, this was a wonderful read and I can’t wait for book three
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finnickdeservedbetter's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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cheryl_gager's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Lauren Asher did it again and it was only me being very picky that stopped it from being a 5 star. I was nervous going in as normally I would say a contemporary romance should not be close to 500 pages, let alone 600 pages. However, this was so well paced and there was so much depth to the characters that it felt like it needed to be as long as it was. This was emotional from the beginning, with everything going on with Nico and then when you add Rafael and Ellie’s backstories it just had me feeling all the emotions all the time. I think because of the emotional start, the ending didn’t have as much impact as it just wasn’t as emotional as the start. I loved how well paced the romance was. I can be hit or miss when it comes to slow burn romances but this just made sense as they both had things they needed to deal with and get over before coming together and when they did it just felt like they then worked together to heal those final bits, which was perfect. There wasn’t a lot of spice and it was so well done that it felt like just the right amount. Overall, I think this was the best Lauren Asher book I have read to date and it has also got me excited for the next boom in the series as it has set up the romance just enough in this book to make it intriguing.
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hapalyn's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Like the first book in this series, it is LONG. I think that’s part of what took my enjoyment away. It was like some scenes felt repetitive (“I’m sorry I said this super hurtful thing”, cold shoulder turned to “I forgive you!”, repeat). The ending was satisfying, and I like the setting and atmosphere of this town, but I felt like the length could be minimized. I also noticed a shift in focus from Nico to Rafael, which was expected, yet I felt sad seeing less of Nico when he started the relationship to begin with.
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redempta's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

4.25 🌟

Cute story but I fully was into it the moment they got together. I don't know why...
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