Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Luna and the Lie by Mariana Zapata

9 reviews

hapalyn's review

funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I'd say this is one of Mariana's best build-ups when it comes to character relationship. The scenes where the FMC and MMC interact have such a nice slow, realistic tension. You clearly see the MMC go from tough to soft, and I'd say there were plenty(!!!) of interactions between the two characters that made the relationship seem realistic and REAL.

The backstories of both characters were so real and raw, I think Mariana did such an excellent job fleshing out realistic characters with real problems/trauma and making them so special to watch grow. 

I will say, that if you are a person uncomfortable with age gaps, I'd skip this one. Similar to Kulti's age gap, the FMC is 26 or 27 (can't remember) and MMC is 41. It's not awful, it made me scratch my head a few times, personally, but I think it can be looked past. I think unlike some of her other works, the dynamic didn't seem uncomfortable (No "old man" jokes.. like Hands Down... ick for me personally). 

I think all side characters were super interesting and fun when they made appearances. The sisters, Mr. Cooper, and Miguel were all some of my favorites.

For others interested in the Mariana-verse, spoilers in case you want to skip:

We had a reference to the Reapers from Under Locke, and the Maio house from Hands Down.

Overall, I'd really recommend this book to those who love these tropes:
-Age gap
-Grumpy x Sunshine
-(Adoptive) father figure
-Independent, successful FMC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Alcoholism

Minor: Addiction and Death of parent

amy_sutt's review

dark emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Minor: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Violence

Most of the triggers are related to the FMC’s upbringing and some in the behavior of the oldest sister (next oldest to FMC). Occurs mostly off page

baylakressi's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Man, the way my eyes bug out of my head when Mariana slips in a “baby girl” half way (or more) through the book. Gets me every time.

I really liked this one! This has a lot of god tropes: grumpy x sunshine, workplace romance, enemies to friends to lovers, touch her and you die, age gap. The list goes on. Slow burn though which isn’t my favorite, but only Mariana could make me read a ~500+ page book where I wait until about 90% in for them to bang. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Child abuse

Minor: Physical abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Addiction, Drug use, Car accident, and Alcoholism

kam_be's review

lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Violence, Car accident, and Death

Minor: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Gun violence

milesofkiles's review against another edition

emotional funny slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, and Drug use

Moderate: Death of parent and Car accident

ava_mussell's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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

3.75

The saving grace of this book was how good the romance was. Like, that's the whole point, but the plot itself was really stupid at times and I didn't feel like I got closure with so much that was going on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Acephobia/Arophobia, Abandonment, and Drug use

niamhstorme's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

itshagar's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Honestly don't how to feel about this one, did i spend 7 hours straight reading it and couldn't put it down ? Yes..duh but i can't give it a 4 stars 
Very very predictable plot but some scenes made feel something,its a SLOW SLOW SLOW BURN so there's that.
the out of the blue (babygirl) is a no from me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gun violence

getbrekked's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Violence, Car accident, and Cursing

Minor: Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Drug abuse