4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

university finals <<< reading an emotional masterpiece

MY VERY FIRST ARC EVERRRRR AHHHHH.

today at 10:30am - sees email that I’ve been approved and starts reading IMMEDIATELY
same day at 10:30pm - is done the book. 🥰🤪🥲🥹🥹😭🥰

Those who have read Unsteady should expect the same and very tender emotional depth in Unloved. I loveddd it! I knew I was going to love it and it did not disappoint!

Freddy is a loud soft boy and Ro is a soft loud girl, and together, if they trust each other and themselves, they are everything! Tears will be shed and smiles will shine brighter than the sun. It takes them both a long time to come to terms with what they think they deserved and what they actually deserve and it’s painful and fulfilling to watch, makes you think there remains to be hope for the rest of us!
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⚠️ mini-spoiler ⚠️
my fav quote: “ 𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵, 𝘙𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘨. For good luck, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵.
It’s from my girlfriend, 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴.
𝘐'𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭.”

These next points are a mix of “am I dumb questions (did I miss something in the book)? or are these plot holes? or is this kind of a build up for the future?

- 𝘸𝘩𝘰’𝘴 𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦?
- 𝘞𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘋𝘖𝘌𝘚 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘉𝘜𝘛𝘛𝘌𝘙𝘍𝘓𝘠 𝘛𝘈𝘛𝘛𝘖𝘖 𝘔𝘌𝘈𝘕 (𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘮𝘣 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 🥹)
- 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘺, 𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘩𝘺𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘥𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘰… he was so insecure about it for most of the book and towards the end I feel like we only got crumbs of resolution in that sense 🥲


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Thank you thank you thank you Netgalley for providing me this arc in exchange for an honest review!

This book was really cute. We follow Freddy, the hockey team’s playboy, and Ro, his school-assigned tutor, as they develop a friendship that slowly turns into something more. I loved the character growth in this book for both MCs. At the start, Ro is stuck in a toxic, on-again-off-again relationship, while Freddy grapples with his sense of self-worth. Watching them heal, discover themselves, and grow both individually and together was deeply satisfying. I especially appreciated the tenderness and patience they showed each other, which made their romance so easy to root for.

However, the pacing of the story felt a bit off. We were jumping around, and the progression of the romance had a lot of back-and-forth that seemed too much. Having just reread Unsteady, which runs concurrently to this book, I found myself wondering if the patchy pacing came from knowing the events of Unsteady too well or if it was an issue in the storytelling itself.