Name: Greta and Valdin
ISBN: 9781776564194

Rebecca K. Reilly

"Valdin is still in love with his ex-boyfriend Xabi, who used to drive around Auckland in a ute but now drives around Buenos Aires in one. Greta is in love with her fellow English tutor Holly, who doesn't know how to pronounce Greta's surname, Vladislavljevic, properly. From their Auckland apartment, brother and sister must navigate the intricate paths of modern romance as well as weather the small storms of their eccentric Māori-Russian-Catalonian family"--Information from publisher.

Greta and Valdin

at first this book felt like a massive trauma dump, but somewhere around the 45% mark i got so invested in the family drama and could NOT put this down. i loved the shift in dynamic between g & v, where at first greta is worried about how valin will act when she gets a girlfriend, feeling like she’s leaving him behind - only for the dynamic to massively switch to valdin being the one “leaving” greta behind. the ending was also good, a beautiful blend of found and blood family <3

3.75

at first this book felt like a massive trauma dump, but somewhere around the 45% mark i got so invested in the family drama and could NOT put this down. i loved the shift in dynamic between g & v, where at first greta is worried about how valin will act when she gets a girlfriend, feeling like she’s leaving him behind - only for the dynamic to massively switch to valdin being the one “leaving” greta behind. the ending was also good, a beautiful blend of found and blood family <3

I really enjoyed this! Recommend. Very warm and loving.

The one thing I didn’t like is how the Betty/Giuseppe relationship was handled. I felt it was drawn out for much much longer than it needed to be, when I had figured that Gep was the one Betty originally was with before Linshe. but I liked that the left turn was not cheating, but polyamory.

Elizabeth

I really enjoyed this! Recommend. Very warm and loving.

The one thing I didn’t like is how the Betty/Giuseppe relationship was handled. I felt it was drawn out for much much longer than it needed to be, when I had figured that Gep was the one Betty originally was with before Linshe. but I liked that the left turn was not cheating, but polyamory.

yeah this is one of my favorites this year and maybe ever

Lexie 

I really enjoyed this book and it's a very rich snapshot of life in Auckland. I loved reading about the places I go in my everyday life! Greta and valdin were very real characters and so likeable which was lovely. Also so funny!! However at times I got confused between all the Russian characters and how they were all interrelated. I also did not really get the dynamic between the mother and her husband and her lover... A bit of a weird side story. But overall such a heartening and warm book. I feel like it tickles at the edge of challenging the politics of identity in aotearoa but could have gone deeper.

Nina 

I thought this book was beautifully written and had amazing characters. Each person was well thought out and had deep and different thoughts, feelings and experiences which made the book incredibly sweet. These great characters also made for great romantic and platonic relationships that I was actually so invested in. Not only this but the author did a great job of making the book funny, I actually laughed a lot. And the ending made sense and created a resolution that I thought was good and coincided with each person's character growth.

Greta and Valdin

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