Amazon.com: Customer reviews: F*ck Love

Top positive review

Mesmerising - 5 stars undoubtedly

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 16, 2017

Preparation for reading F. Love:
1. Remember Tarryn hurts you
2. Don't get attached to the characters
3. Happy ever afters are over rated
4. Tarryn eats babies for breakfast
5. When you think all is well, think again
6. Tarryn doesn't do rainbows and unicorns, she does diseases and freaky fairground rides

Ready!

I had a dream once where David Beckham did some rather delicious things to me with his tongue. Wouldn't it be great if you could have an amazing dream and when you woke up it all started to become real?

Helena Conway is a beige biatch who isn't as pretty as her best friend Della.

Kit Isley, would you stop just standing there with your pretty hair blowing in the wind, looks mighty fine in a chilli pepper red chair, in suspenders and in a coat with the collar turned up.

I heeded my pep talk, I tried, honest I did, but Tarryn is an evil witch, definitely Slytherin and she lulled me into loving Kit and Helena. She made me do it with her siren's song and her fancy pants way with words.

Damn you Tarryn Fisher, I want a kitkat, an old wine cork and a box of socks and I bloody well want to go to a magic place where giant bubbles blow down Main Street.

My heart was in my mouth all the way through the book; at least there I could try to stop her from ripping it out of my chest with her bare hands and then stomping on it.

I made it to the end. I'm now on a hunt for blue crayons and David Beckham. I'm moving to Port Townsend where I will live in the old Cannery and wear lilac.

I loved this book. I just love how Tarryn Fisher uses words, sometimes like swords, sharp and hurtful; sometimes like birdsong, soft and lilting; always perfectly placed.

My highlights:

"When disloyal, seed-sowing scum buckets slept with other girls, why did women look inward to find fault in themselves?"

"I am just a muggle. A beige biatch muggle. It's a sad day in Helena land."

"The best kind of love is the love that isn't supposed to happen."

"Suddenly I know that people are what you truly need to be afraid of. People with eyes that communicate. People who can hurt you so hard you'd wish you were never born."

"I fold like wet paper. My will is soggy, and my morals smudged."

"Nothing worth finding is actually easy to find."

"I'll always find you. Even when you run."

"No one tells you that it hurts this much to be a grown-up. That people are so complicated they end up hurting each other to self preserve."

"Life is a carousel of four seasons. Unpredictable for the most part. Happy. Unhappy. Content. Searching. Mess up the order, and they still rebound at one point or another."

22 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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Reader's Eye

Very weird

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 24, 2017

There are a few spoilers here, so read with caution.
Ugh. That is what I feel about this book. I love Tarryn Fisher, and I have read the 'Love Me with Lies' series twice because I thinks he is such a great writer. Naturally, I saw this and thought it would be amazing.
Sadly, it was really a miss for me. The premise in itself was a little weird. Helena has a dream and all of a sudden she changes her whole life because of it. That is really not even believable, but we are in Book World, so I'll take it. Now, the lengths that Helena goes through for Kit, because of this dream - that is what's ridiculous. She is suddenly following him, going to his hometown, changes her relationship with her best friend, and the list goes on. That is just a bit of a stretch.
Then there's Kit, the coward. I never understand his actions. He has a track record of three girlfriends, and they're all so different. Kit is clearly never able to make up his mind. He has a tattoo about one girl, is with another, and is secretly in love with the other. What is going on? I don't think Kit even knew what he wanted. That made they're love even more not-believable. They were all just so confused.
Lastly, the ending is also weird. They introduce another man, apparently a criminal, who Helena has a brief encounter with. I don't get his purpose there. But honestly, I would have actually preferred that she got with the criminal. Kit had just annoyed me enough at that point.
It's all just very weird. I honestly don't think I would recommend. It starts off so promising, lots of angst. Then it just gets more weird and annoying.

32 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Courtney~MustReadBooksOrDie

What more do we need from a book? Not one thing! LOVE

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 7, 2016

Verified Purchase

Shel: I'm so in love with this book right now. I want everyone I know to read it and I want Tarryn Fisher to make a gazillion dollars off of it. I also want to move to Port Townsend and make my own magic...am I getting ahead of myself? Probably. I'm like a freaking lunatic right now and I have no idea how to make the mad mad HUGE love for FL stop. Or how to make myself focus enough to write anything relatively cogent about why I loved this book so much. I feel like I should write a review about the characters and plot, a review about how it made me feel, and a review that tries to be somewhat professional and unbiased (hahahaha who am I even kidding here? There's no way I can be unbiased about this book or this writer).

Court: I thought that Mud Vein was the love letter to my soul that I didn't know I was missing. But..no. Alas, no. This is. This is the one that really hit right to the heart of me. The words that Tarryn writes are always special and the voice of our characters is so unique, but also so effortless to read that it just flows right off the page and absorbs into my skin. Helena and Kit and company are no different, and thank you Lord I started my year off with this book.

Shel: *rolls shoulders*

*here goes nothing...*

Shel: I don't really want to spend too much time on the plot because I think that's something easy to spoil and I seriously do not want to ruin that for anyone. I guess what I can say is that the synopsis gives you a lot to go on (despite how few words there are in it) and if you're familiar with Tarryn Fisher's writing, you know that she will not disappoint you --the plot is rich and full of events; this is not one of those novels that spans 50000 pages in which you are in the same place, same day, and in same character's head the entire time. The characters are also what I've come to expect from Fisher's writing: full of life. At times the characters infuriated or confused me, sometimes they hurt me, sometimes they provoked me, and sometimes they inspired me. Court: Lots of OMG. OMG. OMG on my part for these same reasons. I never knew what to expect from the next page, and definitely not the next chapter. My angst was way higher than the novels to be honest, and for that I was glad. For the men in my life who think that everything I read is porn, well I shall hand then FL, and tell them another big F you because this book is so beautiful and F us with the words, and had F in the title, but alas there was no (edit) on the page. And it was still so deeply intimate, exquisite and sensual. I read this one in one day, and told Shel No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn and this one is done, and that is exactly what I did.

Shel: I think what I keep coming back to when I think about this novel is how it made me feel. The things that happened to (or because of) Helena and her reactions to them felt incredibly real. There were so many instances when I identified with her awkwardness, her fear, her nervousness or insecurity, her grief or joy, or sense of curiosity or wonder, and her humor and snark. I was inspired by the way she lived in and through each of these emotions, especially because her reactions weren't always these perfectly crafted, well thought out manipulations; many times she was impulsive or not ready to face what was happening but no matter what she seemed unflinchingly honest and open.

Court: I don't think I've ever (and I've probably said this more than once, but truly mean it today...right now) related to a single character so much in all of my life. When something makes me so excited, and it confounds my husband and he just has no idea what to do with me, I am Helena. When I have interests and desires and my mother says to me "Who are you? Where did my sweet, docile, quiet child g?," I am Helena. And when I read a line that says "Let people feel the weight of who you really are and let them (edit) deal with it." and I almost had an out of body experience of epiphany. Rise of the villain, y'all, hear me roar. Or "The weight of who I am. It isn't my responsibility to deal with it. It is theirs."

Amen. A-(edit)-men. I'm not the only one who has ever felt this way about the ones who are supposed to hold me dearest, right? Right. And, Tarryn Fisher, we love you.

Shel: Tarryn Fisher via Helena and Kit and Greer and Muslim gave me many things to think about but I think most importantly (for me) she/they inspired me be who I want to be, to try to be who I think I'm supposed to be..not who others think I am or should be. This novel reminded me of something important--something I'd forgotten in recent months- and that's that I have this one life and it's mine to live and I need to freaking live it, for (edit) sake. So Tarryn Fisher, if you happen to read this review I hope you feel my gratitude all the way down to the cellular level; thank you for inspiring me to live fully...to make my own magic and to find my little piece of Port Townsend (aka NoLa).

Court: God, Shelley. Isn't that so true. After everything we've been through in the last year, and all of the tears that have been shed....to read a book and it hit so damn hard that it might've shifted a few of those cracks in my soul back together. We are in TF debt, forever. I shed tears of gratitude, and hope it doesn't seem too melodramatic, because well I do cry a lot...but I can't fully convey how much I feel for this book. It is everything I've ever wished to read. And lofty to say this will be my top read for 2016 3 days in, but damn it...it is.

Court: And the Harry Potter. I feel my soul connected to people who feel Harry Potter in their bones. And I wouldn't even mind being a muggle, just to be able to live in that world with her. Or a house elf. I would totally be Tarryn's house elf. Yeah.

Shel: I cannot wait to read this novel again and to find all of the things I missed the first time and I promise that when I do read it again, I'll share my newest thoughts (but I have no doubt it'll be equally, if not more, fantastic). Court: We've already made plans. I am in such a book hangover, I have wondered how I will read the next thing, and the next...so I told Shel we're going to re-read this one...a lot. I can't wait until it comes out in paperback so I can get that too, and notate all of the highlights I made. Because I never highlight. And I lit this baby up like a Christmas tree. It is so good, and I hope that you get it right this instant! Devour it. Be Helena. Love Tarryn. Take Chances. All that (edit). *fist bump*

One person found this helpful

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Kelli Spear

Loved this side of TF!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

I'd like to start this off by mentioning that I'm not a Tarryn fangirl. What I mean by this is simply that I don't attack people for hating/disliking her books, nor do I rate everything she writes with 5 stars or as perfect just because I'm in her group on Facebook. And, to be clearer, I'm not saying that her group or readers DO these things, but I know it happens for other authors. I'm only mentioning this so it's known that my rating reflects my true opinion of the book.

Not everyone will love this book. Heck, not everyone will even like it. But that's probably why I loved it. Stop. I don't love it "to be different" or to win points with the author. I went in expecting to dislike this book because of all the hype surrounding it. It's kind of my MO. Instead, the very opposite happened. I loved it because it's real. This is life. This is sometimes love. This is heart break.

I don't have to connect to a character to love a book. I don't even have to understand their actions, for that matter. We are all individuals, and choices that some people make will NEVER be something I'd do - or understand why they'd do - no matter how hard I try. It's the beauty of humanity. Having said that, I did see some of myself in Helena. A lot of little quirks. She was more complex than a lot of women her age in books (especially in romance) these days. Her outward appearance and persona weren't necessarily the same as the person she was in her head. And I don't think that's such a far-fetched idea. Don't a lot of people put on fronts? They do. It's not meant to harm others, but sometimes we don't even realize we're doing it. I get that. As for Della, I know we are meant to dislike her, and at times, I did. Because she had what I didn't want her to have! Yes, that's terrible, but people aren't always sugar and spice. And let's be honest, she was a b****. She took what she had for granted. I'm not saying Helena was innocent or perfect in any way, but as our narrator, she is who we are supposed to be rooting for, right?

Then, there's the issue of the man in the middle. Kit. I get it. I understand why he'd cause the rift he did. Because I wanted him, too! It's not because he's the hottest guy around (maybe he is). It's not because he's the buffest. It's not because he's the nicest. It's just him. He's a mix of all those things, but he has a draw, a lure, and he understands people. He sees them. That's an important gift. And the way it makes people feel is almost a trap. An addiction. It's what starts the fall. The next thing you know, it's too late, and you're head over heels.

The story itself isn't anything new or different. But that's the beauty of a Tarryn Fisher book. Her writing is just gorgeous. She doesn't need easily seen twists to keep the reader's interest. Her words are compelling, and she weaves them in a spellbinding way.

I don't want to be someone's 'girl who got away.' I want to be someone's 'girl I'd never let get away.'

^ This. That is what I was rooting for the entire time I was reading. I wanted Kit to see for himself that he and Helena were meant to be. I wanted him to drop Della like a bad habit and live HEA with Helena, THE END. But real life doesn't work that way. I'm sure people will complain about parts of this book being cliche, but let's be serious, sometimes life is a cliche. Sometimes, s*** happens and it'll make us say, "No way. That could only happen in the movies (or books)." But where did these movies and books get the idea? Because it happens. Every day. IN REAL LIFE. Some people get the short end of the stick. Some people have shi*** luck. Hell, some people have sh****, miserable lives. It's not all "meet a man, fall in insta-love, get married in college, make babies, the end, YAY!" Not everyone gets that fairy tale.

F*ck Love is the story that takes a look at the hard road of relationships and life. It's not all rainbows, butterflies, and unicorns sh***ing rainbows. Sometimes it's hard and it fu***** sucks. I'm not gonna sugarcoat or spew bull**** here. Nine times out of ten while reading a book, I crave that HEA ending the way I crave chocolate covered strawberries when I'm PMSing. This time around is no different. I knew I wasn't gonna get that linear scenario in which it goes from meeting to marriage, but dang did I want it. Sort of. Only because it's easier to read than heartbreak. Like I said, though, that's not always (ever?) the reality. And this journey is worth every second, minute, and hour you will spend reading it.

My favorite thing about Tarryn Fisher is that she's not one-dimensional. She doesn't have a set formula constructed to follow for each book she writes. Each one is different and all are incomparable to each other because of those differences. People will probably say this is like LMWL, and I guess in some ways it is. However, that's not a fair comparison to make either. For every thing you pick out that's similar, there are probably ten differences no one is mentioning. THAT'S WHY SHE'S A D*** GOOD WRITER. Oh, plus all those beautiful words. And the Harry Potter love. ;)

4 people found this helpful

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kmarie28

Kit and Helena made me feel all the feels

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

I haven’t written a review in a very long time. In fact I haven’t read a book that made me feel the need to put my opinion into anything more than a quick rating and a line or two. But I feel like I just gotta write a few things for F*ck Love… I’ve been sitting here for quite a while now, trying to put my feelings about this book into words and I’m just finding it so hard to do. The longer I sit here, the more I am feeling and the harder it is getting to express it all…so here goes…

One thing I have learned is that when I dive into a Tarryn Fisher book I truly have no idea what to expect. I try to stay away from the blurbs or any discussion about it and go in with a completely open mind, ready to fall in love with whatever unique story she has decided to write. Unfortunately, with F*ck Love I knew way more than I wanted to going into it. TF had shared a bit about what was going on in her life, so I knew to expect some of that. I knew where the story took place and some of what she loved about said place, so I knew to expect some of that. Worst of all, while I posted a blog post about F*ck Love I saw a few key words of the blurb so I even knew to expect a little of that. Anyone that knows me knows I hate knowing ANYTHING about a book when I start it. So I was a little bit pissed. Lucky for me, even though I “knew what to expect,” I was wrong about all of “that” and F*ck Love took me by surprise.

I’ve seen many people say they didn’t feel the connection between Helena and Kit and couldn’t get into their story or feel their love. For me, Helena and Kit’s relationship felt more real than most other relationships I’ve read about recently and the longer I sit and reflect, the more I believe in their love. I personally think the best kind of love is one that not everyone understands. The inside jokes. The stolen glances. The quirks that others may find annoying. That is what made Kitlena far greater than Kitella ever could have been. That is what made me feel their love.

I think that just like any other book, life experiences are going to make certain people connect with a story more than others and this one I could connect to. Sure, I enjoyed Mud Vein and Marrow but I didn’t connect with any of those characters the way I connected with Kit and Helena. I’ve seen many reviews saying they feel as though these characters are just like the characters in the LMWL series. I personally can’t quite see a strong connection between the two stories and perhaps this is because I have lived a lot of life in the years between reading LMWL and FL and I see things a whole lot differently than I did back then. As much as I adore the characters from the LMWL series, I am happy that these characters don’t remind me of them. I am happy to be able to keep Calivia in their own little special part of my heart and that for me, F*ck Love was a completely unique story that made me feel all the feels.

My only true complaint about this book is that some parts felt rushed. I would have enjoyed more of different parts of the story but it wasn’t my story to tell so I have to be happy with the moments that we were given.

Overall, this book was 4.5 stars for me. I can see why it may have fallen short for some readers, but for me it was just the kind of Tarryn Fisher I have been waiting so long for. I think that each person is going to connect differently and that everyone should give this story a fair shot. Always remember that not everyone is going to connect to the same story. Thank goodness for that, we’d all be pretty damn boring if we all lived the same lives and liked the same stuff.
**I had to edit my original review and add a little Adele lyric that has been in my head since I finished Kit and Helena’s story…

I know you haven't made your mind up yet,
But I will never do you wrong.
I've known it from the moment that we met,
No doubt in my mind where you belong.
I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue,
And I'd go crawling down the avenue.
No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do,
To make you feel my love.

If that lyric makes you feel the way it makes me feel chances are Kit and Helena will mean something to you too.**

Oh…and wait just a minute…I lied…I do have another complaint about this book. Reading it pissed me right the f*ck off that I can’t visit Port Townsend. So thanks for that. F*ck You Fisher. ; )

One person found this helpful

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Jennifer Michael

Love love love!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

What. Do. I. Say?! I don’t know Tarryn Fisher in the least and this is the first book I’ve read by her but after reading I am whole heartedly convinced she is everything that is right about this world.

I’ve never read a book where I felt so personally connected to the personality and style of the book EVER before. And in complete honesty F*ck Love doesn’t even have most of the qualities of a romance novel I normally gravitate toward but I was still one hundred and ten percent immersed deep within the pages during this journey. Namely the steam factor (not the only factor but one of them) … F*ck Love has ZERO sex scenes and with the quality of writing and the laugh out loud reading experience I had, I couldn’t have cared less about that. I read this in one sitting, started it late at night, thinking I would read a few chapters before bed… um no! I couldn’t put it down and read until the sun was peeking through my windows. Lucky for me it was my day off work the next day.

F*ck Love is strange. Straight up but in the best, charming way possible. It breathes life and personality from every page. Helena is an odd duck, within her inner monologues and the random stuff she says and does and it’s a breath of fresh air. It’s funny and weird and full of Harry Potter references (Which is the markings of an author with great taste!). Helena has a dream that she fixates on and it basically changes the course of her life. Obviously she’s walking to the beat of a different drum.

F*ck Love had an offbeat depth about it. The depth was mixed with humor and created perplexing thought processes while reading. Not in a way where the reader is confused while reading but in a way where the reader is questioning and analyzing throughout the book. Is Kit good for Helena? Is Della a misunderstood, insecure woman or a manipulating selfish one? Is Greer really over Kit or is she out to sabotage Helena? And is Greer really that deep or just scared of people seeing what’s inside of her? While reading, you’re dissecting the characters, their motives and intentions, and their inner workings. I loved this part of the writing. It kept me guessing, left things somewhat open for interpretation and added in that extra mind stimulant while along for the fictional ride.

When I finished F*ck Love I immediately did a couple of things: messaged my go-to book friends telling them they needed to read this, sent Tarryn a FB PM about how awesome she is, searched for someone to chat with about this book, and immediately went to GR’s to mark other books of Tarryn’s to my TBR list. Now I think each one of these things demonstrates that I loved this book and would obviously be giving it a 5-star review.

While on the hunt to discuss this book, I came across the realization that some… didn’t care for Kit (the leading male) even though they were raving about this book. I had no ill-will toward him while reading or after but I could see how some could. He’s not your typical white knight lead or bad boy turned good for the right girl. He’s more of a human character. He’s a guy once scorned by love and now in a complicated relationship with possibly the wrong girl, finding himself having feelings for said girl’s best friend. This is one damn, sticky situation that would be hard for anyone to find the “right” choices. What matters to me is that he was “right” for Helena and that he was what was in her heart. That while reading you could feel her desire, despair, and love. That’s why I love him. Not because he saved her from a dragon or cleaned up his life for her. Look at me… talking about fictional characters like they don’t just live in the world of books and stories… but that heart and soul of the characters and their story feeling authentic is the very reason F*ck Love is special.

I can’t wait to find out what is in store for me in all the other Tarryn Fisher books I have stupidly been missing out on. I came across F*ck Love because around it’s release date it was all over my FB newsfeed. Sometimes when you see a book being talked about left and right, it can set you up for too high of expectations and then you’re disappointed after reading. This is so NOT the case here. F*ck Love was beyond great; completely different from what I thought it would be and so much better than that. The cover is eye catching and beautiful. This is a novel done right; from promotion, to the beautiful cover and teasers, and to the words written on each and ever page. I highly advice you go grab this one today!

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Sharon Thérèse

Laughed, cried, adored.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 10, 2016

Verified Purchase

Reviewed by Sharon Thérèse Nuttall

I am laughing. I am crying and so lost for words that succumbing to the urge to write a few words about one of the most refreshing novels I have just finished reading in a long while isn't questionable. It had to be done. One-clicking nearly a week after release, it sat on my Kindle unread until three days ago. Normally, I would devour a book of this calibre; however, life got in the way. This is the first written work I have read by this author and oh boy, can this woman write a story and a half. To say I loved it would be putting it mildly. Sharp, concise sentences overflow with wit, with happiness and sadness. With despair. I despaired. I needed my buddy reader to give me a hug and tell me not to worry. That everything would take its course; work out right. Alas, I was on my own here.

“If each of our lives represented a page in a book, happiness would be the punctuation.”

This is a story about impossible love. This love is narrated in past tense and in first person by someone I couldn't help to love regardless of all her flaws. Helena’s persona couldn't have been better described. She is not perfect. She is the girl next door who happens to be wallowing in her sorrows and with good reason. In steps her bestie who has absolutely no idea how to be a bestie. Now then; more interesting was the author’s delivery of Della’s narcissistic idiosyncrasies which was absolute perfection. I can’t remember the last time someone in a book upset me as much as she did. I was delighted to love to hate her and would have gladly told her a few home truths if I could have. This, for me, is a good read. When you connect one-hundred percent to the characters whether they are to your liking or not!

“Your girlfriend is a narcissistic *****, and you’re an indecisive coward...”

Helena had a dream. So transparent in its detail, I was fooled into believing it was reality. I was a tad confused here but soon everything made sense at the hand of the author’s penmanship. This dream is without a doubt, the backbone of this story. Will it come true though?

“I cannot hate the dream; the dream woke me up.”

Ah, wait and see because moral issues abound. And decisions have to be made. They are harsh, they made me cry like a baby and at the end of the day, the unimaginable happens but not without sufferance. Yes, roller-coaster rides of emotion took me through one scenario after another and all in the name of one horrendously special person. Kit.

“I don’t want to be someone’s ‘girl who got away.’ I want to be someone’s ‘girl who’d I’d never let get away.”

Kit. Speaking out aloud to you gorgeous, sensitive guy. "You stole my heart in an instant. You matey, also frustrated the pants off me. Well, I can't argue that you gave her the space she needed. Perhaps too much for my liking. However, reading in between the lines; I tried my hardest to respect your rules. Your indecisiveness regarding your dilemmas became my undoing. Your concern to do the right thing was always foremost. Her heart was in your hands though. Mine too! Nevertheless, you drove me up the blinking wall to the point of frustration, Kit. Your flair, your encouragement, your peculiarities, sold me. I have you on a pedestal and you had me on tenterhooks.”

Conflictive feelings between right and wrong are the name of the game and I can assure you, if I wanted to strangle one person, it was Kit. And Helena who’s so damn unpretentious, is nothing less than adorable. Laugh out loud moments are plentiful. Crushing moments abound, too. Secondary characters flower in an unforgettable read on a force ten scale. All is not fair in love and the author brought this point home beautifully. Two things which have to be mentioned before summing up is firstly, imagination. Bedroom scenes are non-existent and certainly not called for. Secondly, I have a feeling that Ms Fisher likes Instagram a tad and I’ll most definitely be following her from now on in. All in all, these few words I had turned into a hell of a lot simply because I was spellbound. I can’t thank you enough, Ms. Fisher. This book is a true gift to the reader who I sincerely hope will love it as much as I did. Bravo!

Note: One could quote this book until the cows come home. But the the below one left a knot in my throat.

“If they could see my heart, they’d understand why my mascara is smudged.”

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Anaïs Neumann

5 out of 5 Stars - even though I would have wished for a different ending

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

I'm a huge fan of Colleen Hoover, who is a huge fan of Tarryn Fisher, so - by association - I am always all ears when a new Tarryn Fisher book comes out, and I must say that F*ck Love hit my Goodreads shelf a little unexpectedly. And the moment I looked at the synopsis, I knew I had to get this.

Helena Conway is your regular, squirky and predictable heroine. She has a stable boyfriend, a stable career-path as an accountant, and everything about her just fits the mold. However, one dream is all it takes for her to change her vision of life. She's dreaming of a husband that is not her current boyfriend, kids, a cosy house in Washington, and a career that she never would have dreamed of - until now. The only problem is that the husband of her dreams is her best friend's boyfriend Kit Isley. But Helena has already fallen in love with her dream and is hell-bent on chasing it.
"I had a dream that made me take a closer look at a guy I was otherwise ignoring. And from that dream I discovered a connection."

F*ck Love is entirely told from its heroine's POV. And you may think that this will be a hell of a love triangle menage a trois type of story like Accidentally On Purpose, or even The Opportunist , another Tarryn Fisher novel. But it isn't at all. While Helena is getting closer to Kit every day (in an absolutely non-boyfriend stealing way), a real connection builds between the two of them, which strengthens Helena's will to reach out and grab the dream.

Helena is the epitome of a good soul, always putting the needs of other before her own. And well, she was dealt a whole lot of crappy cards throughout the book - no matter how good, how loyal or how thoughtful she was. I was team Helena all the way and it made me sad that the story just wasn't much in her favour. She's the girl that's bright, but likes to live life in the background, and this one dream changes everything about her. It makes her want to try something else, and not just what is "expected from her" - like becoming a coloring book artist instead of becoming a boring accountant.
“I don’t want to be someone’s ‘girl who got away.’ I want to be someone’s ‘girl who’d I’d never let get away.’”

While she invested herself so much in that dream, she made those changes and the related soul-searching without ever overstepping boundaries. But she does it all just to watch someone else - her best friend Della - live that dream in her place.
"I know I'm wearing a slutty dress, and my hair is a mess, and people are looking at me. But they can't see my heart. If they could see my heart, they'd understand why my mascara is smudged."

Kit on the other hand... I just couldn't warm up to him. There were things about him to like, but in the end he was just a pretty coward, not really manning up when he should have, and more than often just taking the easy way out. And the rest of the story proved that Helena wasn't the first he ran from. The fact that he'd rather be with someone as shallow as Helena's best friend was just absurd and make him just as shallow. Especially given the fact that he has this deep connection with Helena: they talk art, travel, and books; she shares her art progress with him and he shares his book manuscript with her - when Della is just too superficial to be able to even have a conversation like that with him. Oh and don't get me started on Helena's "best friend" Della. I just could NOT get over how much I wanted to cut her. Throughout the whole darn book.
"Della likes people who cater to her. I'm a professional caterer. It doesn't make me feel used, just needed."

In summary, I will be giving this book 5 stars, just because the writing and the story was so captivating and powerful, and because it totally moved me. I love it when a book elicits such deep feelings from me. But at the same time, I have to say that I found the end of the story a bit unfair. I would have wished for Helena to have a perfect happy ending, because even though she got the ending she wanted, it was not the ending she deserved. She deserved to find someone who would love her and choose her from the start. Not someone who finally mans up once the war is over, and who certainly left more broken hearts in his wake than you could think.
"You shouldn't have to convince anyone to choose you. There is no real choice in love."

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DonnaC

Fantastic, emotional read...amazing writing

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 16, 2016

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F*ck Love by Tarryn Fisher
5 stars!!

“The best kind of love is the love that isn’t supposed to happen.”

So, my first five-star review of the year goes to Tarryn Fisher and what a way to start 2016.

It was great to get back to original Tarryn, while I love her other contemporary standalones that have been on the darker side, it was like coming home when presented with an Opportunist type read. While the title makes you think that this is not going to be a happy story it actually turned out to be so much more.

The writing as ever was flawless with some fantastic quotes that I spent the majority of the book highlighting. This is one hell of an emotional and angsty ride and I have to say this book reduced me to tears many, many times which is testament to how attached to these characters I became, especially Helena.

Helena was a fantastic character, she was selfless and her dry wit and honesty and demeanour were humbling. She was a pleaser and always tried to do what she thought would be better for others with little regard for herself or her own happiness. While she always tried to make the right choices, sometimes you have to do something for yourself, even if it means upsetting some people along the way.

Helena was in love with her best friend’s boyfriend and having seen what it would have been like to be married to him she does the only thing she can do…runs away. She has to get away from the nightmare playing out in front of her eyes, it hurts too much. She has always got on really well with Kit, real buddies but this has always been through her best friend. She respects her too much to tread on any toes so to minimise her pain she puts herself first and flees.

“You shouldn’t have to convince anyone to choose you. There is no real choice in love.”

I loved Kit, but he was incredibly frustrating at times. Like Helena, he was a pleaser. He always tried to do the right thing, even if deep down he knew that he was doing the opposite. He was charming, he was witty and he was adorable. He was comfortable in his own skin and didn’t think he was anything special, he was just…normal. It was this that made him so endearing.

“The day I fell in love with you was the first day you found yourself. You weren’t even mine yet.”

Tarryn Fisher certainly ramps up the angst in this book and it wasn’t until I was reading I realised just how much I missed this side of her writing. The Opportunist series put me through the emotional wringer and as I read, I knew F*ck Love was going to do exactly the same.

This was a book I burned the midnight oil reading, in fact 2.30am to be precise, surrounded in bed with plenty of soggy tissues Tarryn Fisher really brought this book and these characters to life with that forever present emotional pull. That will they/won’t they tug that drove me absolutely batty at times. It was stressful, it was heart breaking but it was a phenomenal read.

I love Tarryn’s style of writing, her prose as always was perfect and so incredibly deep. This was a book that left me thinking about my highlights, going over words, sentences and paragraphs that touched me in so many ways. Her talent with words is astounding and I cannot wait to read what comes next. Some peoples writing just hits you in the heart and soul and it seems Tarryn Fisher hasn’t lost that talent for me.

I very rarely give a long quote, but this one was perfect...

“If each of our lives represented a page in a book, happiness would be the punctuation. It breaks up the parts that are too long. It closes off some things, divides others. But it’s brief – showing up when needed and filling tired paragraphs with breaks. Being content is a more attainable constant state. To love your fate without being drunk on euphoria. Brave, determined acceptance removed of bitterness. Be gentle with yourself. Embrace the lows so that you can effectively enjoy the highs. Love the fight. Love it so much, and let it save you when your emotional muscles have become soft.”

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Anne's Corner Book Blog (AC)

This was a surprised early release and I was on it like a leech… I could not put it down – ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 3, 2016

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5 Stars

WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! Don’t I start out 2016 right? I am putting this on the FAV of 2016 list. A MUST READ!
This was a surprised early release and I was on it like a leech… I could not put it down – DEVOURED this book in one sitting.

“Helena Conway has fallen in love.
Unwillingly. Unwittingly.
But not unprovoked.
Kit Isley is everything she’s not—unstructured, untethered,
and not even a little bit careful.
It could all be so beautiful … if he wasn’t dating her best friend.
Helena must defy her heart, do the right thing, and think of others.
Until she doesn’t.”

“I HAD A DREAM. DON’T MARRY DELLA”

Helena is dating Neil. Her best friend Della is dating Kit. They are all one big happy family until Helena had a beautiful dream - her future perfect life spread out with a handsome husband (not Neil) but Kit and two adorable children (she does not even like kids). Then she woke up … Now, my friend that is your first chapter!!!!! Think you can put down? NOT!!!

Helena is smart, witty, awkward in an adorable way. She is loyal and always want to do the right thing. Kit is HOT, a writer by day bartender by night, but oh so indecisive. He is unhappy but torn between the woman he loves and the safe choice. Helena and Kit have undeniable chemistry. Many times in the book I just wanted to scream at Kit to wake him up, to CHOOSE. Della is beautiful but spoiled and selfish (only my opinion ) – not much of a likeable character (especially the threat she gave Kit) – Ugh! Neil… oh well he is just a douche.
“Are you in love?”

Helena and Kit is much more alike, they understand each other in a deeper level and they compliment each other well but they are involved with other people. Their love story is pure, tender and romantic. Sexual tension is off the chart. You don’t need a descriptive sexual act to get steamy – in this book you will get it merely by conversations and texts Less is more in this case Every time you think they might get together catastrophe strikes … Timing is everything and their timing totally SUCKS.

“Helena, I love you. I’m in love with you. Say something…”
“Men tell lies”

I can’t get enough of Tarryn Fisher’s writing – just brilliant. The dialogues are witty, funny, and entertaining. Let’s not forget the angst… I felt like I held my breath the whole darn way until the end. I especially LOVE the narrative – it’s fantastic, it’s like reading poetry. The way Tarynn described everything is vivid, dreamy, honest and raw. Just so UNIQUE and CAPTIVATING. I imagine the population of Port Townsend will increase 3 folds this year I mean you feel like you are there visiting right along with Helena – it’s so dreamy, peaceful, artsy and the people are nice.

“You can love someone your whole life and not know why. You can even live with it…”

Tarryn Fisher did it again - this is not just a love story. It’s also about friendship, life choices and consequences. I was laughing, crying, cussing out loud to the night. You will be very satisfied with the mini HEA ending but not EVERYTHING is perfect! Because that’s just not Tarryn Fisher!!!

F Love is unique, captivating, beautiful, heart wrenching and brilliant. Colleen Hoover commented in her FB post that this book reveals a sweeter side of Tarryn Fisher – despite the tittle, I kind of feel that too (compare to other books :). I am intrigued and I am so so looking forward to more of her stories.

“You shouldn’t have to convince anyone to choose you. There is no real choice in love.”

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Bexxy

A twisted 5 Star Fairytale

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 28, 2016

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Don't read F Love. Ever. If you respect my opinion you won't read it. Because I want to keep this book solely for myself. I don't want to share it. I don't want to share Helena and Kit. I don't want to share the twisted fairytale that these beautiful words by Tarryn Fisher have created.

F Love wasn't the book I expected it to be, I went in thinking it would be a horribly twisted love story that ended incredibly sadly and I was partly wrong.

I saw so much of myself and my own story in Helena that it was almost like reliving parts of my life I rather wouldn't. It awakened hurt in my heart that I had forgotten.

"No one tells you that it hurts this much to be a grown up. That people are so complicated they end up hurting each other to self preserve"

Thankfully the hurt it awakened was just a memory. My hurt was healed by my own Kit many years ago in a similar way. Having your heart broken is the hardest and best way to find yourself and discover who you really are. However learning to love yourself is hard when you think no else will ever love you.

I found Helena to be a few confusing multiple personalities rolled into one, normally this would grate on my nerves horribly but I think it added to the self discovery that was so clearly evident in F Love. It added to the charm that was Helena and it added depth and growth to the story. Helena went through the confusion, pain and self preservation that we all go through at some stage in our lives and this particular story showed the better side of it. Where as most take the negative way and dwell on there circumstances, Helena turned it into a positive. She used her heartbreak to discover who she was and to make the changes she believed she needed to make to get her Happily Ever After. She left toxic relationships and a city she never truly loved to move to one she did and create new relationships with more positive people.

One of those toxic relationships was her friend Della. Della was a secondary character that I did not like. I knew a few chapters in that she was going to remind me of toxic people who used to be in my life and I feel like that was exactly what Tarryn wanted you to feel.

I could never praise Tarryn enough for the beautiful story she's created. This story was everything it needed to be and everything I needed it to be. Every character she created reminded you of a type of person you may have had in your life and I believe helped you relate to the story so much more. She created a heroine that we are all probably far closer to being then we want to be and she created a hero who was everyone else's hero before he was yours.

I'm all for #LoveIsLove and finding love in whatever way it happens to find you but I do love my typical HEA's so I had reservations going into this book. I wasn't convinced that I would love this book because I knew it wasn't going to be your normal HEA but I take all of those reservations back. F Love is without a doubt a 5 star read for me. I loved everything about this book, the good, the bad and the ugly! This is only my second Tarryn Fisher book but with this one story she has without a doubt become an automatic one-click Author for me, Even if she is a Slytherin! I can't wait to see what twisted Fairytale she brings out next, and in the meantime I'll be spending the next few weeks reading every word of Tarryn's that I can get my hands on!

Oh and my absolutely favourite part of this book? The 50 million Harry Potter references!! LOVE!

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Amy Vox Libris

A dream is a wish your heart makes

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 1, 2016

Verified Purchase

As Cinderella sings, "a dream is a wish your heart makes." Long subservient to her stepsisters, Cinderella lived in their shadows, putting their needs above her own. She ignored the wishes of her heart because she assumed those wishes would never come true. Thankfully, her fairy godmother shows up just in time, and Cinderella makes that wish, dreams that dream, and finds true love.

Helana has lived in the shadow of her beautiful, vivacious best friend Della since they were young girls. Della was the cheerleader, the magnet who attracted men, fell for them, and then discarded them on heavy rotation. When the two would go out, Della did not hesitate to pursue someone who piqued her interest, even if it meant abandoning Helena.

When the book opens, Helena is waking form a dream in which she and Kit, Della's current boyfriend and one for whom she feels more commitment than previous beaux, are together. They are parents and they live what Helena refers to as a "Pottery Barn life." This dream startles Helena. Up till now, she hasn't paid much attention to Kit, focused as she is on her own relationship with her boyfriend Neil. But this dream. Is it the wish her heart makes?

Helena tries to deny the wish. She behaves as honorably as she can, even as she feels herself almost uncontrollably compelled toward Kit. She begins to feel that the dream was not just a wish but a predestination.

But what of Della?

Bright, sparkly Della, the fluorescent to Helena's beige? If Helena pursues Kit, she betrays Della. Can she do that? Can she be selfish?

Cinderella had a fairy godmother to help her find her way, and Helena has one, too. More than one, actually. She isn't someone who wants or cares to heed others' advice, but she learns that receiving help is every bit as important as giving it. The titular love that Helena wants to f*ck is not just the romantic, but the friendly, too. To need someone is to cede control, and Helena doesn't believe she can bear to do that.

At one point in the book, Helena is told that "it's hard for you to fall in love because you like control, and you can't control what another person does or feels, so you keep all your cards." She is reluctant to believe this. She avers, saying she needs something more than love to help her chart her way. Could that "more" be a dream?

Told from Helena's perspectives, the chapter titles are hashtags. Pay attention to those. They operate as a sort of Sparknotes for the book, a way for Helena to summarize her thoughts and feelings and behaviors. I found them fascinating, entertaining, and witty, even as the chapters they headlined made me ugly cry.

If you are new to Tarryn Fisher, allow me to crack the code of the way she writes: Tarryn Fisher will never give you what you want, but she will always give you what you need.

She does that for her characters, as well.

In Helena's case, what she wants, as she puts it, is to "embrace who I know I am." That knowledge does not come quickly or painlessly for her, and when she accepts who she is, she's nearly too late.

When your heart makes a wish, it becomes a dream. Making that dream come true will require that you embrace who you really are, who you want to be. It also requires that you accept help. In Tarryn Fisher's hands, this message is beautifully written. Prepare for your heart to get broken, but also know that Tarryn will put you back together again. As Helena says, "Love the fight. Love it so much, and let it save you when your emotional muscles have become soft."

Published on VoxLibris.net
@VoxLibris

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