Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

As de picas by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

55 reviews

mari_library's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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? N/A

4.5

This was incredible!!! The Get Out feelings. The Pretty Little Liars feelings. Just wow. And the conversation? Incredible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Stalking and Death of parent

cnohero's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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: Racism and Bullying

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Mental illness, Hate crime, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

readandfindout's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Style/writing: 3.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 3.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, Outing, Car accident, Bullying, Stalking, Death, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Sexism, Mental illness, Biphobia, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Grief, and Vomit

Minor: Suicide attempt, Police brutality, and Slavery

rorikae's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

'Ace of Spades' by Faridah Abike-Iyimide is a gripping thriller set in a private high school. 
Devon and Chiamaka are the only two Black students at Niveus Private Academy. During their senior year, a mysterious stranger going by the moniker Aces starts to air their secrets to the entirety of the student body. As more and more of their secrets are leaked, Devon and Chiamaka decide to work together to find out who is behind Aces and why they are sharing these secrets now. 
'Ace of Spades' is the perfect type of thriller that grabs your attention from the beginning and never lets it go. Abike-Iyimide continually ramps up the tension in the story and it kept me hanging on each chapter. The beginning is slower as Aces starts revealing secrets and the reader gets to know Devon and Chiamaka. Once we reach the midway point, the story starts to fly with reveals and twists that continue to be dropped. There is a lot more going on than it first appears and we get hints that add up overtime to create great reveals. 
There are a few pieces that I would have liked some more explanation for. Both are spoilers so I won't go into detail but there were specific situations that were touched on that I would have appreciated further explanation on. It was unclear to me if certain things that had happened were indeed accidents or if there was more set-up behind them.
Even so, this is one of the best YA thrillers I have read and it does a great job of matching the thrilling elements with commentary on racism, homophobia, and classism. I highly recommend this book and cannot wait to see what Abike-Iyimide writes next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Outing, Racism, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Sexual assault

thereadingshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Homophobia

Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Suicide attempt

mallory10100's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

god this book was amazing!! gossip girl meets get out…but it’s Black and queer!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Vomit

HIGHLY recommend this book!!

sageleafpark's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Mental illness, and Bullying

oreo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book had me hooked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Infidelity, and Mental illness

taydelphia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Car accident, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Racial slurs

Minor: Mental illness

reading_ray's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Car accident, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

Minor: Suicidal thoughts