Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

39 reviews

kimveach's review

funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

4.5

After recently reading some "heavier" books, this book was a delightful change.  I loved this quirky, cozy mystery.  Vera Wong is a delightful character, as were all her suspects.  A bonus was that I felt like I was back in San Francisco.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Murder, Terminal illness, Bullying, Cursing, Medical content, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

bookscatcoffee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I never realized my desire to be adopted into a found family by an elder Chinese tea connoisseur until I read this book!  The writing is delectable!  The characters are fully formed and complex.  It kept me guessing, and I enjoyed the ride!  Definitely worth reading!  5 stars

Cozy mystery with diverse characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Gaslighting

thatsssorachael's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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: Emotional abuse and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Violence, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

Moderate: Murder and Death of parent

Minor: Emotional abuse, Murder, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, Cursing, Death, Drug use, and Stalking

kappafrog's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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

Vera was so funny! I loved reading the chapters from her perspective. Some of the other POV characters were less developed, especially Riki. The story was at its best in the Vera chapters. I really liked Emma and Julia too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Bullying, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Medical content, Pregnancy, Dementia, Violence, Grief, Vomit, Gaslighting, Blood, Cursing, and Infidelity

kristinj1's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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 a pleasant and engaging read! I liked the main character, Vera, even though I found her pushy in maybe situations. However, she was such an honest and complete character that I felt like like the other characters in the book seemed to feel - this is who she is and how she expresses her care for you just looks different than how you may want it to look. The only quibble I have is very small, and it is that I didn't really get the relationship she had with her son and how it tied up in the end with Tilly, her son, becoming part of "the gang." But maybe there's more that would be shared in future books in this series, if it becomes a series? I would be fine with this being a standalone book, however. It sounds like the author's initial series, "Dial A For Aunties," is a really interesting one, as well! Reading this book makes me interested in checking out her other books.

Coming back to this review to add, after rereading what I wrote, it strikes me that one of my favorite things about the book is what wasn't there! I don't think there were any white people, but it wasn't explicitly called out. There wasn't any racism experienced by anybody, and and maybe it's unrealistic of me, but I really liked being able to read a book about people with rich inner lives and honest experiences doing things together without being halted by other people's racist ideas and actions.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

aseel_reads's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

3.75

This was so very sweet and I absolutely adore Emma and her interactions with literally everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Bullying

Minor: Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Ableism

bearybooky's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Gaslighting

Minor: Grief, Infertility, and Dementia

abicaro17's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

So cute! I enjoyed this fun little murder mystery. It was funny and an interesting story about found family. I think the dynamic between Vera and the murder suspects was so funny and interesting. My issue with this book is how slow it is. The whole first quarter was so unbelievably boring. Like the murder wasn't even interesting enough to keep me engaged. Also the whole murder wasn't even that good. Like could have gone without that part. It was ok but not great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Stalking, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

toastyghosty13's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense 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

Vera Wong is such a funny character and I wish I had her in my life. She is a an grandma with too much time on her hands and loves to meddle in peoples business. When she finds a dead body in her tea shop, she seizes the moment to try to solve the mystery. She quickly starts meddling in the lives of the people that visit the tea shop after the murder, since she has the theory that anyone with a guilty conscience would revisit the scene of the crime. What happens is the creation of wonderful friendships between an unlikely group of strangers, and the rekindling of an old friendship. 

The audiobook for this is great, Eunice Wong has a great voice and did all of the impressions so well. It really takes another level of skill to sound like a 3 year old child, an old Chinese grandmother, a 23 year old woman, and more and be just 1 person doing all of these voices. My fiancee and I have started saying "AYAHHH" whenever we are upset about a small inconvenience now because Eunice's portrayal of Vera et al is ICONIC. I also now wish to name my firstborn Tilbert.

We mainly listened to this book during car rides and it was something we dearly looked forward to. It is actually laugh out loud funny, which rarely happens for me with books. This was a very cute story, but is also filled with some dark topics when more is revealed about the characters and their relationship to the victim.

If you like murder mysteries with a Miss Marple-esque character, you need to read this immediately!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Murder and Gaslighting