Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me free access to the digital advanced copy of this book.

A family-centered story written with sensitivity, emotion, angst, and tragedy.

Brynlee is a young woman working in a warehouse while attending night school. The guts of the novel focus on Brynlee's complicated relationship with her cruel mother and the effects of that destroyed relationship. The romance aspect wasn't the best, as I felt the strength of the novel should've been completely devoted to the main character's relationship with her family.

Still, really great and had a good time reading it.

3.75 Stars. This was far more intense than what I thought. The family drama and interpersonal stuff far outweighs that of the eventual romance, but I'd say the romance is key to helping resolve a lot of the issues that our MC experiences.

I don't know if I'd call this multi-layered, but it certainly tries hard to make the family drama and the trauma that MC Brynlee feels as grounded. She feels like a real person who had to become a caretaker to an adult who resents their situation. Brynlee, who started taking care of her younger brother while in high school, is still dealing with a mother who is resentful and spiteful of her while she is going to college and working multiple jobs to try to get herself and her brother out of an un loving home. While she is an adult, the constant emotional and verbal abuse drives her to have anxiety and serious self esteem issues. And while I thought Brynlee's reason for being such a hateful person to her own daughter is a little far out there, I know it happens.

What brings it down for me just a tad is Brynlee's love interest, Sara Cain. Sara is Brynlee's brother's teacher and is quite possibly a living angel. Sara rarely gets ruffled by Brynlee and is thoughtful and kind almost to a fault. She feels unreal, which could be the point, given all the things that Brynlee has to experience on an almost daily bases and that the story is told from Brynlee's perspective. And I don't feel like Sara's kindness is overly unrealistic, it's that she doesn't really crack at all. She doesn't really become overwhelmed when stuff gets bad, and she mostly stays the course. Brynlee has a lot of emotional baggage and that Sara can handle all of it without seemingly being affected by that feels a little too perfect to me.

Ultimately it is more a story about overcoming an abusive relationship with your parent and the romance is not as front and center. If anything, it can show that having a support network, even a support network of one can make a world of difference for someone going through what Brynlee had to, and I appreciate that.

The book revolves around Brynlee and Sarah. Brynlee spends her days working and when she is not working taking care of her younger brothers, because her mother cannot be bothered to do so. Brynlee also has to deal with her verbally abusive mother. She deals with it because if she moves out, her brothers will be left with a mother who is absent a great deal of the time. Things are going pretty well for Brynlee until her brother, Brandon is having problems with bullies at school. His teacher, Sarah, reaches out to Brynlee, because her mom does not want to leave work to deal with Brandon's problems. Brynlee and Sarah devise a plan for Brandon which works out until Brynlee's mother gets wind of it. Her mom blows up and kicks Brynlee out of the house.
Even though Brynlee is no longer in the house, Sarah and Brynlee keep in contact regarding Brandon. The two women begin spending more time together and realize that there is more than Brandon connecting them together.
Just when things are staring to go Brynlee's way, her mother drops a bombshell that could change everything.
I would recommend.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very moving story, that hit home on so many levels.
I truly enjoyed reading it and finding what the main characters is going to accomplish next.
Her actions and bravery was impressive. I am happy it had happy ending.

There were bits about this book that I liked, and some that I felt needed to be fleshed out more, so I'm on the fence about the rating. Maybe between a 3.5 and 4 stars, but I rated up since at least it was unique.

This book really touches on the concept of bullying, both the obvious way but also the hidden way that has been ignored for so long that it's not even noticed as bullying. Brynlee deals with both in her life, but it was her relationship with her mother that was the most compelling part of this story. I enjoyed seeing her progress on recognizing the bullying and mental abuse, although I do have to say the reason behind her mother's actions were a little obvious to me.

When it came to her relationship with Sarah, I found it to be a refreshing & sweet side of the book that was needed against all the negative. I'm not quite sure how much they really knew about each other before saying the big 3 words, so that took me a little out of the realism, but whatever. Clearly it was a little more love at first sight than I was anticipating.

With thanks to Bella Books and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I chose this book because the additional element of family drama appealed to me over and above the romantic element. It’s about Brynlee, a 22 year old college student who has been looking after her angelic younger brothers their whole lives, as their mother is a neglectful alcoholic. When her youngest brother starts getting bullied at school, Brynlee is brought into contact with Sarah, his more or less perfect in every way teacher.

From this point on the two seem to meet literally everywhere and before long have embarked on a relationship, with both also trying to help Brynlee’s young brother with his bullying problem.

So far, so good.

The issues with the book are largely to do with the pacing in the second half. Everything goes much too fast. The bullying plotline is resolved almost instantly (the resolution ended up being “tell a teacher” which, let me tell you from my twelve years of experience of being bullied at school, does not work.) The romance goes from first kiss, to sleeping together, to living together in the space of less than 24 hours. Less than 24 hours after that, “I love you”s are being thrown around.

There are a couple of twists with the family drama and the mother, but by the time they were revealed I was more or less checked out of the plot due to how infeasible it all felt.

2/5

Only 3 books have ever made me cry, and this is one of them. So have a box of tissues ready.
Weight of her world is beautifully written, and written with sensitivity. It's a family drama, it's full of emotion, angst, and tragedy but also you have a sense of love too.

This is Amanda Owens's debut novel, and I'm looking forward to future realises. I've given weight of her world a 4/5.

Oof, this is a tough review to write. I was excited to read this book because of the queer rep, and the family dynamics; however, this book reads like a lifetime movie. That will absolutely slap for some, and if you're a lifetime movie fan, this might be your jam. Unfortunately, it was just too basic for my liking, and due to the short length of the story, not much was really developed.

What I did like:
- I appreciated the MC's fierce love for her brothers and their relationship
- The MC was a strong woman despite everything she has been through
- Some decent sapphic spice
- It was a very quick and easy read

What struggled for me:
- This was full of very deep topics (emotional abuse, physical assault) but didn't dive deep enough to do these topics justice
- The romance developed too quickly without enough to feel like it was real
- The writing and story felt very novice.
- It's a story that feels done before and didn't add anything new

Overall this just wasn't for me, but it might be for you. I will caution that there are a number of triggers in regards to the emotional abuse the MC experiences from her mother as well as on-page physical assault from her mother. So if these are triggers, tread cautiously.

3.5 but like on a higher-end so I round up since it does make a difference.

This book is kinda emotionally taxing to read, it deals with school and parental bullying. There’re warming sibling moments and spicy romance to balance the drama out. But gosh, I was high on emotions most of the book. I like the plot/setting, it’s an interesting route to start the sapphic bits. The family drama also keeps my attention.
The characters were mostly ok-developed, meaning that I think their characteristics could be more flavorful. There were moments when I couldn’t understand the character's behaviors. My fav characters from the book were Sara and Brayden because they're too good for this world. Although I love the relationship between Brynlee and Sara and how it develops, there were a few forced moments to move their relationship along that just didn’t make sense to me.
The writing style was ok for me. I didn't like how things were explicitly stated when they could've been shown. And there were a few repetitions that were overused, so instead of keeping the story consistent and cohesive, they seem unnecessary.

Brynlee lives with her mom and 2 brothers. She goes to college and looks after her brothers. The plot of this book revolves around how Brynlee takes on responsibility for her brothers and deals with a mom who clearly does not like her. Brynlee meets Sarah at her brother's school when he gets bullied. Ther is drama and emotions. as Brynlee and Sarah become close. Trigger warning there is anger, violence and bullying. The characters are well written and make for a good story. My only criticism is the author spends a lot of time on small details. I recommend this book for romance and relationship readers.

Brynlee meets Sarah when she is called to her brother's school to talk to his teacher. Sarah is concerned when his sister comes instead of his mother but she can tell Brynlee wants to help. They both feel a mutual attraction from the beginning but Brynlee has a complicated life with lots of responsibilities due to her mother's behavior.
This was a good book but had some heavy subjects. The mother is abusive when she's around but also absent a lot. I look liked both MCs and felt like they had good chemistry. Brynlee's brother's were cute too and her best friend Andrea seemed very supportive. There were a few things in the plot that seemed a bit illogical to me but they didn't ruin the story for me. I think the writing was well done and plot was engaging. Overall it was a great first book from a new author and I'm looking forward to the next one.

From a debut author I found this to be an easy read that kept me turning pages to see how the story panned out. It’s a family drama with Brynlee as a young 20 year old working at a warehouse distribution company and going to college at night. Brynlee has two sweet younger brothers and a very nasty mom. The story is about bullying and how the family overcomes it. Along the way Brynlee meets Sarah who is a teacher and they have instant chemistry together. Sarah is a very kind and loving person and helps Brynlee overcome her difficult situation.

I liked the feels between the MCs and the two brothers. This book kept me entertained.

ARC received for a voluntary and honest review via Bella Books through NetGalley.

Abuse can take many forms and the perpetrators could be anyone close to the victims.

Weight Of Her World is largely based on the experiences and struggles of 21 year old Brynlee McAdams. She was the main caregiver for her two younger brothers and displayed tremendous strength in her role and was reliable, sensible and loving. Throughout the book, it was evident that the weight on her young shoulders was getting too much and far too quick unless she makes a decision to stand up for herself.

This is a book that touches on a range of delicate matters for one’s psyche. Family, you love them and you hate them but you can’t leave them. Love, it can be right in front of you yet you can lose it. The juxtaposition between two members of the same household was startling and it showed the importance of choice and it’s contrasting effects.

I just reviewed Weight Of Her World by Amanda Owens. Thank you NetGalley and Bella Books for the ARC.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Brynlee is hard working women and also trying finish college. She is emotional support for her two brothers because their mother is emotional distant bully. Brynlee decides to help her brother when he gets bully and meets his third grade teacher Sarah and from their they work together and friendship and romance begins although this isn’t really a romance story it’s more of Brynlee trying to work on her relationship with her mother which in my opinion was making the book drag because I didn’t really care for the mother. I did enjoy Brynlee relationship with her brothers and Sarah. Overall good read.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars

Brynlee is only 22 but is responsible for care and safety of her two younger brothers. Her mother is a narcissistic, emotionally distant bully. Bryn works full time while attending night classes and is about to graduate from college. She wants a place of her own away from her domineering mother but doesn’t want to leave her brothers in the clutches of her mother. When she meets her youngest brother’s teacher, her world begins to change.

This book is not a romance in the truest sense of the word because the romance between Bryn and Sarah is not the focus of the book. The focus of the book is on the relationship between Bryn and her mother, which makes the book an emotionally exhausting read. The romance between Sarah and Bryn doesn’t begin until late in the book and, while sweet, is rather shallow and lacks real emotion. The intimate scenes seem to have been added as an afterthought and just figuring how the characters are positioned takes time and seem impossible to achieve.

The relationship between Bryn and her brothers is sweet, but with everything else being so dysfunctional, it’s hard to enjoy the sweet with all the sourness surrounding it. There are other things wrong with this book and a few more things right with the book, but to discuss them would be adding spoilers to this review.

For the most part the book is well written, and Bryn is well written. However, the other characters, including Bryn’s best friend and Sarah, remain amorphous and at the end of the book you may realize there was no emotional connection to them.

If you like books that grab you and take you on an emotional roller coaster of a ride even if it’s a negative ride, this book is for you. If you want to read a LesFic romance, this is not that kind of book.

My thanks to Bella Books and NetGalley for an eARC.

I liked this family drama, sapphic romance. Brynlee McAdams is 22, works hard at her job and is finishing her college degree. She also is the main support for her two younger brothers. No matter how hard she tries her mother can say nothing positive to her or acknowledge the help she is to the household. When her youngest brother is being bullied at school she meets Sarah Cain (29) his third grade teacher. Mom wants the gentle boy to fight and stand up for himself. Brynlee and Sarah try and give him other tools to cope forging a friendship as they do.

I like the gentle, unsure way the romance blossoms between the two main characters. One of my pet peeves in books is characters that are mean to be mean and I love that there is an explanation to the hateful way Sarah’s mom treats her. It doesn’t make it right but it explains some of the bullying she engages in with Brynlee. Sarah is a gem at smitten, supportive romantic partner even as things happen too fast for good communication. I usually prefer lighter romances but I will read a story like this any day. Thank you to NetGalley and Bella Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.