Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp

17 reviews

mysterymom40's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Cursing, Police brutality, and Self harm

Minor: Vomit and Alcohol

Due to some of the content, I would say the audience might range from an older teen to an adult.

beb989's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Violence, Alcohol, Mental illness, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

caroliner_readss's review

hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Mental illness and Racism

azyef's review

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-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

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, and Abandonment

Minor: Violence, Blood, and Medical content

betweentheshelves's review

emotional hopeful 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

4.0

This YA contemporary definitely packs a lot off issues into it, filed with great characters and references to some delicious food. I think the romance between Pen and Xander unfolds really naturally, and adds to the tone of the story. Plus, the audiobook features a song written for the book, which is pretty cool!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Racism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcoholism and Stalking

wordrevel's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Fire/Fire injury and Hate crime

Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, Mental illness, and Abandonment

Minor: Self harm

sunflower_reads's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Fire/Fire injury

abbie_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Self harm

marissasbooks's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.0

This book was definitely more sweet than bitter! Hehe. We get POVs from Pen and Xander, two different narrators in the audiobook and both were excellent. Pen and Xander are easy to like and root for, and I loved their individual growth over the course of the story and the growth of their relationship with each other.

There is a good plot here, but I would say it's more character-based. A lot of the plot has to do with Pen and Xander coming of age and figuring out who they are, and parts of it felt a little unrealistic (but this is true for most YA books I think). The setting was wonderful though—there are so many food descriptions in this book, you will be hungry throughout the whole book! I loved all the scenes at Nacho's Tacos, Pen's dad's restaurant (major flashbacks for me, I worked at my dad's restaurant as a kid), and the family aspect within this community and all that I learned about Mexican culture. So many good developed side characters too.

Overall I enjoyed this quick audiobook and this sweet story! Now I'm gonna go eat some tacos.

Thank you to Libro.fm, Hachette Audio, and the author for my ALC.

Read if you like: eating, cooking, community families, not backing down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Racism

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts