Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

135 reviews

angievansprang's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this read. Queenie is a young, Black, 20-something trying to find her way in London while coming to terms with some realities about her life. There are LOTS of terrible men, beautiful female friendships, complicated family dynamics, and most importantly, the rocky journey towards self love & self acceptance. Though Queenie is by no means perfect, I found her to still be a lovable character. You want everything to work out for her in the end. Check trigger warnings before picking this one up because there are definitely scenes that are hard to stomach, especially when you as the reader can recognize Queenie’s self-destructive behavior before she does. I thought the mental health representation of anxiety & panic disorders was completely on par in this book and I appreciated that rawness from the author. It was one of the many ways in which Queenie comes alive off the page.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Mental illness

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, and Physical abuse

djcarter's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

I enjoyed this book. I felt like I could relate to Queenie when it came to her dating life and also her anxiety. The way her oncoming panic attacks were described made me remember how mine also felt. I’m happy that in the end of the book the focus was on Queenie and how much progress she made throughout the book and she didn’t need to end up with another man to have a “happy ending”. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Fatphobia, Racism, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual harassment

rockyreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

In full transparency, I saw a lot of myself in this book. A lot of my darkest times and worst decisions is reflected in Queenie and what she went through. We're human, we're not perfect, and sometimes we go on paths of self destruction before coming back out of the rubble and realizing who we are and what we deserve.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Racism

brigitta_anna's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, and Racism

genthepineapple's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, and Police brutality

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Gaslighting, Cultural appropriation, and Stalking

grandpas_farts's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

franksreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny sad fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Body shaming, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Miscarriage

littlecozyreaderr's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, Grief, Miscarriage, and Sexual harassment

jawillis's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

sarah_reading_party's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.75

the good:
-queenie's jamaican british family, their dialogue/slang, and the way they care for each other
-queenie's friend group, the corgis... nothing like a good group of friends :)
-queenie's determination to improve her mental health and seek the therapy she needs

the bad:
-graphic abuse & sexual content - queenie put herself into bad situations and men put her into bad situations. that could have been shown without such graphic content/descriptions. i had to skim some large portions of this book. :(
-some of the workplace things queenie deals with could have been avoided if she just, ya know, worked. alas....

i probably would not have finished this book if it had not been a book club selection. the author is a talented writer and i'd consider reading another of her books in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Sexism