Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Youngblood by Sasha Laurens

9 reviews

thebookaddict's review against another edition

dark inspiring sad tense fast-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

3.0

🇳🇱: Dit boek was niet helemaal wat ik ervan verwacht had, maar het was leuk om te lezen. De focus ligt veel bij de queer romance en veel minder bij het verhaal eromheen, ik had het juist andersom verwacht. Ik las in de reviews dat het boek homofobisch was en soms zelfs een beetje racistisch. Ik keek hier anders naar. Ik vond het juist wel passen bij het boek, omdat we het hebben over 100 jaar oude (witte) vampiers die nog moeten "wennen" aan het idee dat het meer wordt uitgesproken als je queer bent en dat mensen met een andere huidskleur nu ook naar school gaan. Deze dingen kwamen sterk naar voren in het boek en dit kan dus ook kwetsend overkomen (lees zeker even de trigger warnings als je hier niet tegen kan). Ik vond het boek goed geschreven en je leest er vlot doorheen. Ik had alleen iets meer verhaallijn willen zien met betrekking tot de ziekte en het "medicijn" dit voelde nu juist meer als een zijlijn in het verhaal. Ook had ik meer willen lezen over de reünisten. Het concept van vampieren en een ziekte waar ze door sterven vond ik heel origineel bedacht.

🇬🇧: This book wasn't quite what I expected, but it was fun to read. The focus is much on the queer romance and much less on the story surrounding it, I expected it the other way around. I read in the reviews that the book was homophobic and sometimes even a bit racist. I looked at this differently. I thought it fit with the book, because we are talking about 100 year old (white) vampires who still have to "get used" to the idea that it is more pronounced if you are queer and that people with a different skin color now also go to school. These things were strongly highlighted in the book and can therefore come across as hurtful (be sure to read the trigger warnings if you cannot handle this). I thought the book was well written and easy to read through. I just would have liked to see a little more storyline regarding the disease and the "medicine", this just felt more like a sideline in the story. I would also have liked to read more about the reunionists. I thought the concept of vampires and a disease that kills them was very original.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Cursing, Abandonment, Vomit, Death, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child death

cryptofauna's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

okay i was really not into this book at the beginning, it felt like it was trying way too hard to be liberal which always kind of turns me off of books but as i powered through i got so caught up in it. generally had some problems with miscommunication tropes which i absolutely hate but for the most part it added to the tension

i was so invested in their relationship and while i feel like the mystery/plot sort of took a back seat to the romance it definitely wasn’t bad. maybe a little predictable but if you’re coming to this book for the sweeping mystery what are you even doing. the world is really interesting and auagah i love them

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Blood, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

lunep's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Classism, Colonisation, Infertility, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

skypotion's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual content

ezwolf's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

To be completely honest I read this because of the controversy it gained on BookTok and I wanted to read it for myself so I borrowed it from the library. I don't think it was as discriminatory as people made it out to be, but I also wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

The plot seemed to just be "high school but with vampires" for a good chunk of the book and when it did finally introduce other plot points it left them unresolved. 

This book is told from Kat and Taylor's POVs and I disliked both of them. I didn't really like anyone in the book. I don't know if that's because I'm older and they're very teenager-y or if they were actually unlikable. Taylor suffered from "I'm not like other girls" syndrome and Kat came off borderline homophobic for a good chunk of the book. Also both of them were white but the narrative pushed very hard to show us how they were the only (or some of the only) vampires who cared about diversity and equality and yet the only characters that were not white were one of the mean girls who bullied both Taylor and Kat and the popular rich boy who was unaware of rich vampire privilege. 

Also Galen's parent's whole backstory???

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Sexual content, Racism, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Infertility, and Cursing

celestriakle's review

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book promised me a trashy, CW-style teen drama with lesbians and vampires, and that's exactly what I got. It met all my expectations, and it was a lot of fun! If you want a miracle of writing or a really well done book, this isn't that, but if you just want a good time, then by all means, enjoy this. Highly recommend if you're in the age group this book is actually aimed at.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Lesbophobia, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Cursing, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Sexual content, Infertility, and Chronic illness

bubbly_lara's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

What a fun read! After having watched Netflix's "First Kill", I was in the mood for more vampire stories and had seen this on Bookstagram.
And it did not disappoint! Was the plot predictable? A little - but that did not take away one single bit of the enjoyment :) plus I'm not the original target audience. I immensely enjoyed this read and would recommend it to anyone who'd interested in a vampire story set at an elite boarding school, with a murder mystery to solve and a childhood-friends-to-enemies-to-lovers storyline.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Sexual content, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, Classism, Blood, Bullying, and Alcohol

Minor: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, War, and Child death

the_crooked_neighbor's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I really enjoyed reading this book and finished it over two days. It was a toss-up of whether it was a 5 star read but in the end I feel like I needed a bit more from the ending. I really enjoyed the world-building. The relationships between all the characters were interesting. The romance was cute. I appreciated that it is a fade to black.

I am glad that the ending had a couple of twists because some of them were a bit predictable. I am so glad Victor wasn't secretly her actual dad. I really wanted a bit more of how Galen ended up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia

Moderate: Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Death of parent, Death, Alcohol, Homophobia, Violence, Slavery, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Racism, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

None of the content warnings are too graphic but it is a book about vampires which inherently means people with old fashioned beliefs and blood.

dreams_while_reading's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I enjoyed this queer vampire friends to lovers, boarding school, murder mystery story but it fell a bit flat for me. It highlights a bunch of issues that are relevant to today's world and tons of high school drama. I did enjoy following Kat and her self discovery, learning to be who she truly was and not who she thought she was supposed to be.

I did notice there was quite a bit of uneven pacing throughout the story. Some areas dragged a bit while others felt completely rushed. Everything gets tied up in the last 50 pages of the book, which part of that was more of a "what happened afterwards". 

TW: homophobia, classism, references to racism, bloodborne virus, adjacent to drugging, murder, sex scenes, 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol and Emotional abuse

homophobia, classism, references to racism, bloodborne virus, adjacent to drugging, murder, sex scenes,