Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan

30 reviews

_honora_'s review

challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is not a book you read for a happy ending. I think based off the the blurb alone you should have an idea of what you are getting into. However for people still craving the writing and style of a TJR book this may be for you. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, and Eating disorder

Minor: Suicide and Rape

icieri's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Drug abuse, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Addiction, Car accident, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

vkitoria's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• 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

3.75

i really wanted to love this. it has a lot of things going for it, but the execution fell flat.

first of all, it's very much a taylor jenkins reid copycat. think evelyn hugo + daisy jones, but about a pop group in the early 2000s. TJR herself gave this book a good review but idk... it seems to weird to not even put her in the acknowledgements when this book is clearly heavily inspired by her work. ESPECIALLY evelyn hugo.

besides that, there were a lot of aspects that just didn't work well. the pacing was super weird, and i felt like none of the other girls in the group felt real. i think that the girls' career as gloss should have lasted at least a couple more years, and that would have helped with pacing immensely.

the writing was good, and the issues that the book dealt with felt relevant to the subject matter, but i wouldn't go around recommending this to anyone. i'd just tell them to read TJR instead.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Rape, and Suicide

itschelseaw's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I really liked this book, but definitely would’ve liked to have learned more about Cassidy after she left Gloss. I felt so sad for her and how sharply downward her life turned after becoming a member of the band.
I do think it’s interesting, and also totally accurate, that so many of the famous women we came to know in the book were abused. Fame definitely has a dark side to it, and I’m honestly sad for Cass that it ended the way it did for her.
As a fan of the early 2000s pop music (the music of my childhood) I completely remember the popular groups and how all encompassing my love for them was at the time. Being an adult now, I can easily see the ways in which they were exploited, and having that perspective really made the book for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual assault, and Rape

tallycat007's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Stalking, Suicide, Rape, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Infidelity

avabudavari's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Physical abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Outing, Cancer, Abortion, and Animal death

maggies's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I had high hopes for this book, but I found it fell short of other similar novels about fame and its consequences, like Daisy Jones & The Six or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo—maybe Taylor Jenkins Reid is just really good at that theme?
There was a lot to recommend it at the start, great writing and an interesting premise, but ultimately it lost its way pretty quickly. Perhaps because there was so much going on that none of it could actually be afforded the proper attention and care? Sure, that can be taken as a reflection of real life, but doesn't make for a particularly enjoyable book, in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Grief, Dysphoria, and Death

Moderate: Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Stalking, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Infidelity, Car accident, Fatphobia, Medical content, and Outing

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

One star for competent writing, one star for prominent queer rep. If this had been marketed as YA instead of adult, I might have had different expectations. 

Maybe I'm just too old for immature teen drama, but I found all the characters offputting and unlikeable. They are terrible to each other and all think they are in the right, or are responsible for all the wrong in the world. I don't think it's unrealistic, especially in how teen girl performers are exploited, but made it very hard for me to root for any of them or really care how their storylines played out.

I also found the "mystery" of Cassidy's depression confusing. It was neither surprising to me that a character in her position would struggle with mental health for years, nor was there ever a conclusive explanation found for her struggles to justify everyone's bizarre interest/confusion about it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic friendship, Grief, Sexism, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny

Minor: Drug abuse, Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Cancer, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Biphobia, Infidelity, and Stalking

caribeth's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

jackieyvette's review

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I read it because I wanted a book that was similar to Daisy Jones & the Six and this one was listed everywhere as something in the same realm. I loved the premise idea, early 2000s pop girl groups are my favorite, but I think this book was just too slow. I felt like it took getting through more than half the book to really get anything of interest. I like Cassidy and Merry’s storylines, but I feel like Rose and Yumi’s fell flat which sucked because I actually really like the idea of Yumi, but Rose was just unlikeable from beginning to end. 
I wouldn’t say it’s really anything like DJ&TS other than it being the music industry, but maybe I would have liked it more if I would have found it as a stand alone book and not a similarity between the two. 


Crying Score: None, but Cassidy and Merry had me for a minute. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Bullying, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abortion, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexual harassment, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Car accident, Grief, Outing, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal death