Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish

7 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Chronic illness, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Drug use, and Transphobia

annahamburger's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Cursing

Moderate: Dementia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Homophobia, Vomit, Transphobia, Racism, Antisemitism, Child abuse, and Terminal illness

cassielaj's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.75

As someone who adores the movie The Holiday, I knew I’d be into this book. And I was correct. This is such a sweet story about making a change and confronting your habits to truly find yourself and what makes you happy. All four of the main characters are lovely, complex people, and their relationships and communication seems so normal and well-adjusted (most of the time). This book does a good job of not falling into too many overdone romance tropes, while still being a heartwarming holiday rom-com to rival the best of them. There’s a lot going on, but it’s so fun and funny and just a lovely read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Dementia, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Transphobia and Lesbophobia

ladythana's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Dementia, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, Homophobia, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

imaginaryalchemist's review

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.5

I felt like the characters' romances progressed too quickly, which is possibly due to not having as much time to focus on their respective romances. 

I also felt like a lot of the side characters were flat and didn't add much to the story. Greta's story in particular suffered from this. She's introduced to several of Carys' friends and they barely had any relevance to the plot. 

I wasn't really a fan of Carys as a love interest, her character kind of rubbed me the wrong way. She seemed needlessly harsh towards Greta. Her reactions seemed a bit overblown a few times. Carys was easily my least favorite of the characters and lessened my enjoyment of Greta's story, which I otherwise enjoyed. I liked seeing her learn to set boundaries with her overbearing family.

For example, Carys' reaction to Greta getting her ice cream and cleaning up after the party made no sense. It felt manipulative and petty.

I preferred Truman and Ash's romance overall. Truman was a little too pushy with his offers to help, but ultimately I felt their romance was really sweet. I felt like the plotline with Ash's mother was resolved a little too easily, as was the mystery with Truman's favorite author.

Minor nitpick, but I did notice some typos towards the end. There were also some sentences I thought were awkwardly worded. It felt like it could have used a bit more revision.

Overall, it was a quick, cute holiday read with plenty of queer representation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Minor: Lesbophobia, Transphobia, and Homophobia

The sex scenes do get pretty detailed and might make some people uncomfortable. There are brief mentions of the homophobia, lesbophobia, and transphobia the characters have faced throughout their lives. The beginning of Greta's story in particular deals with a lot of the lesbophobia she faces.

nickoliver's review against another edition

funny lighthearted 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Dementia

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Transphobia

emily_mh's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective 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

3.5

This book was not a great execution of what it set out to do, which was to be a Christmas/holiday romance. In terms of holidayness, the holidays of Christmas and Channukah barely feature in the story to the point where I think this would have been better off as a regular romance. However, the romance was also lacking. With Greta’s story, her relationship with Carys felt more like a formative one you have in your 20s that doesn’t have an HEA because you’re there to change each other not be each other’s forevers. I didn’t like this, and I didn’t like that Carys seemed not that into Greta. And I’m not talking about Carys’ direct communication, which I liked, but about the fact that she seemed so dispassionate about the whole relationship. Truman’s romance was definitely my favourite of the two as it conversely felt a lot more equal in terms of love, and even just life experience. However I think Ash, like Carys, didn’t really feel like a real person, like the character wasn’t fully realised. 

The strongest part about this book and what saves its overall rating was the character development of Greta and Truman. It was so cathartic seeing them learn about boundaries, and self-love, and living a life you’re in love with, and changing their lives accordingly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Dementia, Drug use, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child abuse, Classism, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Transphobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Death, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Abortion, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism

Major: toxic family Moderate: sick parent, family estrangement Minor: adoption