Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender

44 reviews

bluesmith's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use and Suicide attempt

vagaybond's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

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

3.25

this was hard to read, emotionally speaking. one of the protagonists is a multiple-times-over CSA survivor and the beginning of the story was a lot of him only for the first time realizing that people are capable of seeing him as something worthy of basic respect. it hits really close to home in a few ways that I don't think are something I want to channel in a book review.

this book is the kind of thing that you might glance over and think well, cute I love the fake relationship trope. but then it hits you with heavy catholic church scale pedophilia trauma and what it means to experience love when you don't have the capability to express or receive it. and how that traumatizes people who care about you and how it pushes people away. and what accountability for that means. and maybe closure.

I think it also just weighs on me a lot as someone who has complicated grief about an ex who met me when I was like that. I always had that sense of unresolve, but this ex died before we could talk again. it hurts and I wish I had the resources for this scale of therapy. it's hard to rate this because of how I feel about my own stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Rape, Biphobia, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Medical content

wannabebard's review

challenging emotional hopeful 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

3.75

This book had A LOT of trauma. Like a lot. But I liked that the characters worked through their trauma and came out on the other side. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Drug use, Homophobia, Biphobia, and Alcoholism

theboricuabookworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

5.0

A beautiful and heart wrenching romance that spans several years from their budding acting careers to their late in life settled down pursuits. Kacen handled incredibly difficult topics with such care and understanding. SA for the sake of SA in a book is something that will always turn me off from reading it but the way that our characters coped and processed and lived their experiences following such horrendous trauma is how all authors who include assault scenes or passed experiences should be writing. The acknowledgement that how the MC coped was not healthy nor productive but the author's refusal to make the audience shame him for his trauma response was was more poignant than I can properly put to words. **potential spoiler** A necessary third act breakup. It was not to create more drama or as the result of ridiculous miscommunication but rather a means for our MCs to take a step back, heal themselves - or put themselves on the path to healing - so that when they do eventually get back together it is when they are in a healthy, capable mindset to make a relationship work. 

This book provides a perfect capsule into how we genuinely do not know what someone is going through or has lived through because of how their public persona is. 

Note: the audiobook had different narrators for the two MCs but also for the blogs, news clippings, and tweets that made the book that much more engaging. I love the inclusion of the media and the outward perceptions to make the internal struggles and dialogues stand out that much more

I'm rambling at this point but this book is going to stick with me and I highly recommend you add it to your shelves.

Thank you Libro.fm for my advanced copy.

cw: rape (on page not long), sexual assault, memory and recounts of past child abuse and sexual assault of a minor, cyberbullying, emotional abuse, homophobia, biphobia, drug use, suicidal thoughts

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Child abuse, Biphobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Addiction, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Drug use

jadatrack's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

It’s good and I’m glad the author is upfront with the content warnings. Please know this is not a lighthearted romance - it follows the typical arc of a romance but the trauma the main characters experienced and the toxic cycles they engage in as a result is front and center throughout. It’s important that we have a variety of love stories out there so those with trauma can see that they too deserved to be loved. But if you are looking for a romance for a sense of escapism, this would not be the one to read. Again, the book is wonderfully done and definitely needed to expand the genre, so I’m not criticizing it. I just know that many of us read romance to have a lighthearted escape and I wouldn’t want anyone to go in without knowing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Biphobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Rape, and Pedophilia

Minor: Cancer

sarafinley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Homophobia

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Biphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, and Rape

Moderate: Drug use and Racism

figsofpeach's review

dark reflective sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Racism

readerpants's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

• 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'm not entirely sure how to rate/review this. Need to sit on it for a while, I think. 

Not a sweet, fluffy read it, definitely not YA despite the author's having focused on younger readers in the past. Heavy on the trauma, though with an eventual HEA/HFN. NOT a match for a high school library (v explicit, rape on page).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Sexual violence, and Rape

ashtont's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Self harm, Drug use, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction

Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Biphobia, and Toxic relationship