Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Stora vackra liv by Emily Henry

66 reviews

sunshinekmp's review against another edition

3.75

hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Car accident

Minor: Terminal illness, Dementia, Pregnancy, Classism

atamano's review against another edition

3.75

emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Car accident, Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

shiradfrankel's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment

bien's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Upon picking this one up, and being about 10% into it, it really had me think of "the 7 husbands of Evelyn Hugo". It was similar in some ways, but also entirely different! It did take me a bit to finish it, as I had a harder time getting into it than I usually do with Emily Henry books. However, it was all worth it! It really felt like I was reading 3 books at once, with all the different side stories woven into the main one.

The romance in this book is cute, the side stories are super interesting and written in a way that can be relatable/ realistic(?) Obviously not all of them. I kept wanting to find out what would come up next between Alice and Margaret’s sessions and what all of that would lead to! Kept thinking there were loads of things "missing" in those sessions, and they felt kinda "tense". HOWEVER, in the last 20% of this book, EVERYTHING came together! I gasped loudly a few times, and at some moments had to put down the book to stare into the void. Safe to say that the plot twists were WILD, some of them more obvious than others. 

I kinda had a suspicion something was going on about Hayden from the start. It just seemed to "odd" that Margaret would just reach out to him without any context? Especially since Alice was the one to reach out to her originally?

 

Also did call it from the start that there was something "odd" about Jodi!! Never could've guessed the outcome though!

To conclude, this was not my favourite book from Emily Henry, but also definitely not my least favourite! I am not sure whether I would classify this book as a romance-book alone, as it had so much more going on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness

maddiebusick's review against another edition

2.75

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The main romance kind of drove me insane but loved the historical story! Guessed the twist like way early too I think it would be more fun if I hadn’t

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness, Sexual harassment

flwrchld's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent

Minor: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Abandonment

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

3.25

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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               This book felt like it was trying to be two books at once. It was trying to be a bit of both a literary mystery and a contemporary romance book. The two didn’t weave that well together, however. 

              I hated all the edging the author did with the MC’s sexual relationship. I think she was trying to keep it from being “too spicy” for her readers, but still spicy enough. However, it just got frustrating. I get the building anticipation of them having intercourse, but it just took too long! 

              I liked most of the characters, all the townspeople, Cecil and Margaret especially, though others not as much, looking at you, Alice, and especially her mom, and Theo. 

              Overall, it was a decent book. Mostly, the structure just didn’t work for me. As well as the drawn-out nature of the MCs’ relationship, and their admitting their feelings and desires. 


  

​Narrator Rating:​ 4.75 stars

             I wish they’d gotten someone else to narrate the section of the book that was supposed to be part of the biography. Julia Whelan is wonderful and did an amazing job, however, I feel like having dual narration would have been better for the two intertwined sections of the book. 

Elements 

Heartfelt-💔💔💔 

Horror- N/A

Love aka Romance- 💋 💋 💋 💋 & 1/2

Predictability-🔮 🔮 🔮 

Spice-  🌶  🌶  🌶 

Tear- 😭 & 1/2

Thrill- N/A

Humor- 😜 😜 & 1/2

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Classism

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

cdoubet's review against another edition

3.0

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Classism

Minor: Pregnancy

hannahpower's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad medium-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

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This was one of my favourite reads this year! 
The last couple of chapters felt rushed but overall a really cute story that had layers to it and a surprising amount of substance. This book broached some important topics that I don't often see addressed in romance books, and while some parts weren't resolved, they were handled well and leave room for the reader to contemplate. I might be an Emily Henry fan now 😍

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content

Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy

Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Classism

tigertheory's review against another edition

3.0

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Will update this later but I’m just so pissed off rn 

literally fuck off. I hate pregnancy trope endings so much.

Also, since when is 1,70 m considered tall? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Classism

Minor: Child death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Alcohol