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monig's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book had a lot of potential. It starts off incredibly heavy with all of the drug use, sexual assault, and deaths Sara, Grant, and Emilie face respectively. While I do feel we saw growth within Emilie’s character, I don’t feel the same about Sara at all. The closest we got to it was her crashing her late father’s truck in Eugene’s property, but that is still a quick fix for all she had to endure. I would have loved for the book to explore Sara overcoming her previous experiences and was frankly waiting for her to have an “Aha!” moment but it just never happened. Even when she began opening up to Emilie it felt watered down. It seemed pointless to dive into all of her trauma with no real resolution towards the end.
I also felt this book had a lot of loose ends. Colette, Grant, Spencer. The characters kind of vanished and while I understand they aren’t MC I still felt like it would’ve been nice to get some kind of closure that wasn’t so superficial like the run in between Emilie and Grant. Especially after finding out Spencer was dealing. But I guess that’s the way life actually is. That’s something I like about this book. It’s storyline, at times, was simple in the best way. There was not a huge climax imo but it made it more relatable. Overall I think it was a good read but it felt a bit rushed especially towards the end.
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, and Addiction
scarletellajones's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Addiction, and Chronic illness
mcampbell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Addiction
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Cursing
afrenette's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Drug use
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
mx_sunshine's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I appreciate the many different life events Nina covered. Death, grief, trauma, moving and heartache. I liked the pace of the book. I was surprised at how dark the content was in the beginning.
I feel like side characters weren’t fleshed out beyond their relationship to the main characters.
I would’ve liked to read more about how Emilie and Sarah supported each other. I feel like I understood their passions as a reader, but I would’ve liked the characters to express their admiration for each other.
I really enjoyed Emilie’s development over the book.
Emilie and Sarah spend more time apart in the novel than together. I feel like Sarah was
It would have been interesting to see how Emilie and Sarah discuss and reflect on their class differences. There was a lot of emphasis on Emilie’s immigrant grandparents. But she grew up in a home where she was financially supported. She spends years as an undergraduate in university and finishes with a degree that she doesn’t use.
Sarah mentions she read books that were on a university list.
I want to know how Spencer is doing. It feels like characters are given a happy ending through the establishment of a relationship.
I thought the way Collette’s retreat couldn’t be defined was strange. It felt like an easy way to rush character development.
Emilie’s and Sarah’s experiences with drugs was used as a similarity between them. But this history wasn’t expanded on in how they managed that in the present.
There seems to be a lot of unhealed trauma in this book that people aren’t seeking help for. This makes me wary to accept the “happy” ending.
Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Sexual assault, Addiction, Death of parent, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Cursing
shannahtan's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Pedophilia
Minor: Death of parent, Death, and Child death
ada_rosales's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Abandonment, Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Rape, Grief, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia
ohmygoshtosh's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Sexual content, Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
Minor: Racism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
republicofben's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Abandonment, and Self harm
Minor: Terminal illness, Car accident, Child abuse, Body horror, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
col3bri's review against another edition
Moderate: Addiction and Death