Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender

30 reviews

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

stormw's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

OH MY GOD THE ANGST!!! THE AUDIOBOOK NARRATORS ARE SO TALENTED AND THE WRITING IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE THIS IS LITERALLY THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ IN SO LONG

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Child abuse, Addiction, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Drug abuse, and Biphobia

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

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

bookobsessedmommy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

While reading this, I kept thinking "this isn't really a romance", but that's not true. I'm used to light and fluffy romances filled with witty banter, meet cutes, and quirky characters. Matt and Logan's relationship is frequently raw and uncomfortable, and they restle with trauma, anxiety, drug addiction, depression, and that's only the beginning. Their journey is so real that it caught me off guard, but it is still a romance. Not 'realistic' per se, but a heartfelt exploration of pain and suffering and how living happily ever after takes work and sacrifice and patience. The audiobook has a full cast and some mixed media elements, which really brought the story to life. This was an emotional read but beautifully written, and I can't wait to read more from Kacen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Addiction, Homophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse, Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Racism

kaylasoos's review

challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Addiction

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Pedophilia

amanda_mh's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This book … I took my time with it, I’m glad I did, it had me sobbing throughout almost every chapter. This is my first Kacen Callendar book and I will be reading their other books now. Major and multiple trigger warnings so please check before reading. This is going down as one of my favourite books, some really important messages in this story. So much care went into telling Matt and Logan’s story 💜

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Rape, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Biphobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Cancer, and Adult/minor relationship

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

acetheticallyy's review

emotional fast-paced

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

2.0

I can envision a version of this book that was really good and on paper it sounds amazing but the execution just lacked something for me idk. One of those things where all the characters sounded like therapists and u never really got to dive deep into the emotion of it all bc it was being spelled out for u instead. Kinda disappointing

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse

Minor: Alcoholism and Drug abuse