Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

11 reviews

kaydee_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

3.75

I really wanted to love this book. I loved the first one - we could be so good - and Andy and Nick’s story so much that I dove right into this one afterwards, and I think it suffers in comparison. 

Mark Bailey is grieving the loss of his partner in secret. This is probably the bit of the book that worked best for me - his loss and his grief and how he’s dealing with it felt very raw and real, and his hesitance to fall in love again or be a secret lover again was understandable and sad. I teared up a few times - the cherries scene got me! 

I found Eddie a lot more inaccessible as a character, however, and I also found it difficult to imagine the two of them living happily ever after. They’re just so different and they have almost nothing in common - which, sure, can work for a bit, but I could easily see this relationship falling apart in the near future. 

I also found the lack of plot maddening in a way it wasn’t in We Could Be So Good. Maybe that’s because I just went on a very similar/same emotional journey in that book, which was a meditative exploration of queer identity during this time period, with one character who has long since accepted his queerness and the other only just beginning his journey, but through his exploration of his own identity, pulls out new facets for the other person. And this book… did exactly the same thing, same formula, same long meditations and inner narration. Since these books exist in the same universe, I think it is fair to compare them and I think this one should have differentiated itself more - perhaps by having a little more plot? Or just a different emotional arc. 

I did love the last quarter of the book quite a bit, which pulled it up from a 3 to a 3.75, but found the first three quarters uninspiring compared to Andy and Nick’s book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Homophobia, and Outing

Minor: Car accident and Death of parent

samchase112's review

hopeful 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

4.5

Oh, this was just lovely! Sad, hopeful, and tender, it felt like a warm sweater and a mug of tea, and the perfect distraction from everything going on in the world America right now. I should mention that I LOVE BASEBALL — and not only did this book capture that world so well, but I also felt like I was living in 20th century New York City, surrounded by queer and straight people just trying their best to get by. And as a fellow emotionally-closed-off semi-academic, Mark's character hit quite close to home. GODS this was really good, and will soon be joining my growing collection of books on grief. Beautiful and comforting, this might be my favorite thing Cat Sebastian has ever done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism and Medical content

katerina_l's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

captchaluff's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Terminal illness, and Outing

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

alisonvh's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I loved watching these two fall in love and finally admit to falling in love, but there’s a lot of sadness and grief throughout this book, too. It takes place at a time when being gay is dangerous, and far from ignoring or shying away from that fact, it becomes a major plot point. My one quibble about this book is that the audiobook narrator’s high-class, mid century NYC accent really grated on me. If I read more in this series, it won’t be on audio.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Outing, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism

jennifox's review

This book is beautiful, but it's so slow and I just can't spend this much time in such a sad spot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Grief, and Alcohol

eenicem's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, and Sexual content

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Antisemitism

hiddenfallacies's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

Putting into words what I liked about this book is difficult. A lot of it is simply to die for - the writing style, the accuracy of the historical setting, the way each character feels like a real human being (flaws and all). This story, in the end, is about having the courage to keep trying even when life goes wrong. It manages to make that message not feel superficial, which is a monumental accomplishment in and of itself. 

The only thing holding me back from rating it higher is that I was much more endeared to Mark's POV than I was to Eddie's. Which isn't to say that Eddie's chapters were lacking, exactly, moreso that Mark's journey through grief was more captivating to me than Eddie's slow process of self-discovery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Medical content, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jess_polishedcomma's review against another edition

emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, and Homophobia

aseel_reads's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.5

This was adorable and funny and emotional and sad and sweet and cute and I loved my grumpy X sunshine pair!! I'm also obsessed with Lulu so much 😍😭 I just want to be friends with mark and Eddie so badly!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death and Racism