Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Birthday

This book broke me a little, but also did an okay job of picking up the pieces. Please check the content warnings before reading this book, I think there are a lot of people who will have a harder time reading this book than I did.
This book felt very real, which might sound vague, but I don't know how to describe it better. Morgan and Eric are great characters and their friendship - or rather their journey from friends to lovers - was heartwarming to read. (Eric reminded me of Samwise Gamgee btw, which made me like him even more.) Reading Morgans chapters was very hard sometimes, I wanted to enter the book and be there for her so bad sometimes. If you want to read a book that contains a lot of trans joy, this one is not the right pick for you, even though the ending is hopeful. There is a lot of transphobia, internalized and otherwise and a lot of self-hatred and suffering.

Quick note: Since first writing this review, it came to my attention that there apparently is controvercy around Meredith Russo and her being abusive towards her ex partner. So if you decide to read this, maybe think about getting it from a library or buying it secondhand or something.

Kurze Anmerkung: Es werden teilweise suboptimale Worte verwendet, wie z.B. Geschlechtsumwandlung statt Geschlechtsangleichung. Idk wie das auf Englisch gehändelt wurde, daher dieser Zusatz auf Deutsch. Weiß nicht, warum diese Entscheidung so getroffen wurde, eventuell weil das beim Übersetzungsprozess nicht aufgefallen ist oder vllt auch einfach, weil das ein Wort ist, das zu der Zeit passt, in der das Buch spielt. So oder so finde ich, das hätte so nicht passieren sollen.

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vagaybond's review against another edition

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bibisuzanne's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad 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

4.5

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cecilielaugesen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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emotional 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? Yes

The book on it’s own was about a 4.5 ⭐️ rating. The trans rep was so good and the plot line of how both Morgan and Eric changed each year was really cute. The book was heartbreaking at times, the numb feeling of not being able to see your future all too relatable, seeing Morgan at her lows and fight to get to a place where she got her happy ending. I really liked it and read it in one sitting.

Having said that it’s a low rating because of the author alone. I didn’t know it when I picked up the book but after reading reviews and the links to articles I don’t feel comfortable supporting the author. Call it cancel culture all you want but abuse is abuse at the end of the day and I don’t feel comfortable separating the author from her work.

Switching POV
Trans (mtf) MC
Friends to Lovers
Angst with a Happy Ending

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katyfayyyx's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I have really mixed feelings about this book because 2 stars, feels to low but 3 stars feels to high because this book was just so weird to be because I think it is a really smart idea to see this friendship that turns into a relationship through the years through the one day they always share which is their birthday's but I just feel like there a some many books that I have read that just deal and work with the topic so much better than this book did. However, do think this story will be a important read for a lot people and I think a lot of people will be seen in this book and I don't think this book is bad and just think there are lot of books out there that just deal with these topics better.

And this was not a fun read but any means, it was just so miserable to read because they were both trying so hard to be what they thought the each other warned/needed. When all they ever needed was each other. I can't lie something that really annoying me was if I knew (which the both do) that my friend really wasn't okay which is like super obvious that there is something going on, why would you just speak to them like girl, be some fucking for real. Like how could you live like that. However, I did like the ending which is one of the reason why I am confused about how I feel about this book because I loved them at the end and they were really cute and I was just really happy how quickly Eric and Morgan's dad accepted her and I loved for the minute that they both knew they never made a big deal and they just love and accept her which was just really nice and I thought their friendship/relationship was just really cute and I just really love them as a couple and I thought they were really wholesome and I believed that they generally did love each other and after Morgan came out, everything just made sense for both of them and that just made me really happy. Like when Eric said 'She's Morgan. My Morgan' really melted my heart. I just think one of my main issue I just felt like we knew Morgan a lot more than Eric, like I just didn't really ever get to know of Eric was outside the progression of the relationship, which I think meant that I didn't really care about this book as much as I would off if we knew both of them. I am just so confused about how I felt about this book because I really liked the last two birthdays but I just found it really hard to connect with the characters and the story and I caught myself getting more and more bored as I carried on reading.

'We kiss, and we kiss, our whole future spiralling before us."

Content Warnings

klouh's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

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