Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Losers: Part I by Harley Laroux

35 reviews

fnicholee's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Death, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Addiction, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Sexual content

makayla_h's review

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Body horror, Addiction, Alcohol, and Drug use

READ TRIGGER WARNINGS

shaipanda's review

This was incredibly well done and I basically binge read almost all of it in one sitting (besides the first chapter or two which I read earlier) 
I’d seen this recommended on tiktok before but I’d been hesitant because I generally don’t like bully romances.
 I finally got around to reading it cause Gracie on tiktok recommended it and said besides The Bully by Sophie Lark this book series is the only bully romance she’s liked. This pushed me to give it a chance as The Bully is just about the only bully romance I’ve liked (till I read this) 
And damnnn am I so glad I did this book is insanely good and ofc I’ve already started the second part 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Bullying, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Drug use, and Biphobia

Minor: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

discarded_dust_jacket's review

dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

4.0

I think it’s a testament to Laroux’s writing that, despite bully romances very much not being my thing, and despite degradation/humiliation very much not being my thing, I still loved this book.

The same can be said for the fact that although initially I was skeptical of the high page count, this book didn’t feel overwritten, and it held my attention from beginning to end.

Being the wet blanket that I am, there were a couple instances where I found myself proclaiming aloud: “that’s not entirely safe,” but all-around, I thought that the depictions of BDSM and its guidelines were handled well.

As a side note: at first when the negotiation of Jess’s servitude in payment for her car repairs was floated, it was presented as this very “you give us consent to do whatever we want, when we want,” situation, which was raising all sorts of red flags. [For the record, that’s not how consent works; you cannot give consent carte blanche like that without any parameters or discussion of boundaries. And if anyone asks you to, you should run.] But thankfully, that’s not where the conversation ended in this case, and they did go on to have a healthy discussion of hard and soft limits, safewords, etc. I really appreciated that. BDSM, for all the stigma that surrounds it, is a community incredibly preoccupied with safety, consent, and respect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Child abuse

Minor: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Stalking, Death of parent, and Fatphobia

adelesbooks's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This series is hitting all the right places right now. It's so good. Even if I take the smut out the story and the relationships are spectacular.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Biphobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Cursing, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

mabellene's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Drug use

Minor: Murder, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

fangirljeanne's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Sexism, Alcohol, Biphobia, Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Bullying, Homophobia, and Drug use

suse_'s review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

If you see this and you know me IRL - no you don’t :)

Good lord this book was something! After reading The Dare I needed to know more about all the characters and I wasn’t disappointed! Each and every one of the guys is so incredibly lovable and unique. I love all the different POVs and getting different insights to what is going on. Truly amazing and the spice is a nice bonus! I really can’t decide who of the guys I like the most - I just love them all and am caught between wanting to be them and wanting to be with them lol

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Classism, and Drug use

bbygirl21's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved this book and the characters in it. 

I love how the boys get Jess out of her comfort zone and show her what it's like to actually be cared for. I love that she's finally finding where she belongs and who truly has her back. I do wish we had seen more of her best friend Ashley. It seems Ashley is really the only one of Jess's friends that won't judge or abandon her. So I'm looking forward to seeing whether she makes more of an appearance in part 2. 

I'm enjoying seeing all the characters pasts and what got them where theyIare. And I loved seeing how differently they cope with everything that's happened to them. 

I surprisingly love all the guys. I wasn't sure if I'd like all of them or not from some things other people have said about them. But I'm loving all of them so far and I don't see that changing with the second book. 

I'm excited to get into part 2 and to see what happens with their relationship as a whole and the individual relationships between all of them. I'm also looking forward to seeing what happens with Manson's dad being back and the trouble he already seems to be causing and even Alex and any revenge he may want to take on the group as well for what happened in the end of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Sexual content, Violence, Alcohol, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Gun violence, Bullying, Homophobia, Stalking, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Grief, Self harm, Death of parent, Child abuse, Murder, Death, and Domestic abuse

the_otaku_bibliophile's review

dark emotional hopeful tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Homophobia, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Body shaming, Classism, Bullying, Drug use, and Violence

Minor: Murder