Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Holiday Trap

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish

18 reviews

the_true_monroe's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-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

3.0

While the overall story was not for me, I connected greatly with Greta’s family dynamic, the struggles it caused in her interpersonal relationships, and her transition into her own person outside of the enmeshed family. I loved how her thought process and realizations were thoroughly communicated to the reader but also her partner.

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annahamburger's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.0

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h_elen's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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stacy837's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

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pitsikakku's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

3.0

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bencaroline's review

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lighthearted

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

2.5

(note: I wrote up a whole thing and then somehow deleted it without saving, so this is an extremely lackluster, months-later attempt at a review)

God, I wanted to love this book so bad! The Holiday but gay, and in novel form?? Sign me up!

Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me in the pathos department. It’s as if the stakes were told, but not shown nearly enough. And the whole thing has an undercurrent of pro-default-capitalism that I hate. Aside from the romantic storylines, each of our two protagonists has sort of a B-plot wherein they help people... be entrepreneurs, I guess? I'm all for the creative endeavors but there’s something about it where they are trying to Make Profits and somehow those methods endear them to a community more than anything else they do.

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ladythana's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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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wardenred's review

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emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

3.25

It’s like…like I’ve been so deep in this whole thing for so long that I honest to god stopped trying to think of any solutions and just figured this was my life now.

Talk about mixed feelings! :D This book is basically two stories meshed into one, and I liked some of the things about each, while low-key disliking others. In terms of characterization and personal arc, I vastly prefer Greta to Truman. I feel like she was a lot more relatable and well-written, and I wanted to root for her every inch of the way. Her story about finding herself and slightly belated separation from her family really resonated with me. Truman's journey to sticking up for himself was interesting, but somewhat blander in comparison (and also, Greta kind of did a lot of the work for him, when their storylines intersected directly late in the book?). Although I must say I really loved how invested he was in his bullet journaling!

When it comes to romance, though, I actually liked following Truman's and Ash's relationship more. Despite the largely identical timeframes, it somehow felt less insta-love-y and developed more naturally, and the problems they were facing, especially on Ash's side, were a lot more interesting for me as a reader. I really loved the way they got to know each other while Truman helped with the shop, and Ash's insecurities, and his struggles with being his mom's sole caretaker. Honestly, Ash is probably my favorite character in this one. When it comes to Greta and Carys, though, I was kind of hooked on their story during their first accidental date, but afterward... I don't know, I just didn't *feel* it, and I'm not sure how good they are for each other. Carys has this very understandable thing about borders, being the daughter of a covert narcissist; the narrative seems to portray her as the queen of personal growth, but I got the feeling she isn't completely healed and in her efforts to maintain her own borders may intrude on other people's borders by accident. And Greta's borders are rather fragile as she's only learning to stand on her own as someone other than a sister and a daughter; at the same time, she's also not as careful as she should be around other people's borders, as shown in the story. I don't say that I'm certain they'll become to clash and hold each other back in the long run, but I get the feeling they might, despite all those careful conversations about healthy communication they've had.

In terms of characters who aren't the leads or the romantic interests, I feel like there were too many, and as a result few were fully realized. Like, Greta's sisters are basically "the mean one," "the peacemaker," "the twin," and "the youngest one who has a bit of personality." That's just one example. That's a pity, because all of them sounded really interesting. Perhaps the book would have benefitted from a more quantity over quality approach: a smaller cast with characters the reader could actually get to know.

In terms of plot, this is largely a slice of life story focused on inner journeys, and I'm very much digging that. There were a couple of hiccups I've noticed along the way. Like, there was a certain event that happened in Greta's storyline and then impacted Truman's. Truman didn't even learn about it from Greta, and it wasn't mentioned in any of her chapters at all. I get that it wasn't a super important part of her narrative, but I still feel like it should have been mentioned somehow? As a whole, I expected more intersections between the two lead's journeys to tie it more into a single book.

What I very much enjoyed was a sense of place and setting. The characters' homes, the small Maine town with all of its small businesses, the strees of New Orleans, the bayou, the community garden with the beehive, the cave by the ocean bay—all of those spots were really vivid and added a lot to my understanding of characters who hung around them.

This book also reminded me why I so seldom pick up Roan Parrish's books, even though a lot of them look so cool and when I do read them, I end up finding something to enjoy every time. Somehow, I just can't click with the author's prose. It's so... unobtrusive to the point of being distracting? I know that makes no sense, but that's how it feels. Maybe one day, I'll be able to put a finger on the source of that disconnect. After all, I'm sure I'll keep occasionally picking up Parrish's books, anyway. Like I said: a lot of them look cool!

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cgbr's review

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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

3.0

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mldavisreads's review

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adventurous reflective

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Contemporary LGBTQ romance. Greta in Maine and Truman in New Orleans both find themselves needing to get out of town for the holidays. A mutual friend, Ramona, helps them arrange a house swap so that Greta can watch Truman's dog and Truman can watch Greta's plants. Greta loves the quicker pace of life in New Orleans, the weather that is conducive to growing almost year-round outdoors, and the LGBTQ scene she finds there. Truman loves the sincerity of the people on Owl Island, the small-town feeling, but does not particularly like the cold. Greta meets Carys and falls in love with her confident, no-nonsense approach to life. Truman meets Ash, a florist who owns his own business and needs a partner in more ways than one.

I enjoyed the house swap and the sense of reflection that comes from being in a completely new place around people that don't know your past. I really enjoyed Truman's journey but didn't enjoy Greta's story as much. Greta's story had a few too many characters to keep track of, and for the longest time I thought she was dating Muriel, a much older gardener she met, so I was a bit put off by that. I eventually realized that Muriel was an older friend who served more as a mother/mentor figure, but didn't like that I had been so easily confused by a central plot point. Lots of reflections about why we are the way we are, setting healthy emotional boundaries, and speaking up for our needs. The psychological aspect was a bit heavy-handed at times.

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