Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

34 reviews

kcohrs19's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide, Cancer, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

ellie_girl2929's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

At all of the books I’ve read this is the second book that made me cry. This book was so informative and definitely educated me on OCD and it’s so important to know more about diseases/illnesses. The romance was so cute and loved that the author took a real story. The “dedication” page abt her family member was so sweet and I’m so glad she found her own Aj. I can go on and on about this book and will probably edit this when I have the exact words I want to say. This book was reflective and made me think and have my own thoughts abt life in general. I never read a book like this before.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Cursing, Grief, Cancer, Death of parent, Suicide, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts

zuzu_lang's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

5.0

This book caught me by surprise. I originally picked it up thinking it was a romance. While th romance in the book was one of my favorite parts, this story is so much more than that. I did opening cry reading this. I love this books so much! I have no words to express how meaningful and emotional this book was for me. Definitely one of my new favorites!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Moderate: Cancer and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

This book is very deep. It has a lot about struggling with mental illness and dealing with panic attacks. There are character who struggle with bullying, depression, and one with a mother with cancer. There is a brief mention of sex.

one of the characters is basically a ghost of someone who died by suicide.

jennyvetvik's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Mental illness

Moderate: Terminal illness, Bullying, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual content, Cancer, and Death of parent

tays_books's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Vomit

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent, Vomit, and Cursing

astrumillustris's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Mental illness

Minor: Death, Death of parent, and Cancer

krissyslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Grief, Suicide, Bullying, Stalking, and Death of parent

nosmallthing's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent

inkyinsanity's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I had a really fun time reading the first half/three-quarters of Every Last Word.

The writing was compelling, the characters enjoyable, and the romance adorable. I'd describe the plot as Brenna Yovanoff's Paper Valentine meets Clueless. One member of a group of mean girls wants to change herself but is too afraid of her friends' reactions, but something gives her a chance to find her own interests and make new, nicer friends. Plus, she has OCD!

I seem to love that mean girl trope, and I definitely enjoyed reading about the teenage girl drama. (Much more preferable than living through it, or having to supervise it!)

Unfortunately, Sam's big reveal, which the book's summary calls, "...a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear,“ fell into the cliche that so many stories about mental health or chronic illness seem to fall into. If you regularly read or look for disability representation, you're probably familiar with the type: instead of being a story where a girl with OCD tries to break away from her toxic friend group, it became a story where a girl with toxic friends struggles with OCD. Except it isn't even a symptom of OCD that she turns out to be experiencing.

Sam hallucinated her new best friend, the one who encouraged her to make new friends, break away from the Crazy Eights (the mean girls, and really, what an interesting name to appear in a book about mental illness), and stop hiding her OCD from her friends.

I saw the twist coming, and kudos to the author for foreshadowing it well. I just hate it.

If the big, climactic disaster had to be about Sam's mental health instead of her friends, which was certainly a strong enough plotline to stand on its own, I had imagined it would have to do with her current treatment regime no longer working, or someone finding out about her OCD/therapy and spilling the beans before Sam was ready, causing social issues at school and increasing her stress, perhaps leading to unsafe behavior on her part in an effort to be "normal.“ etc.

To add to things, after the big twist, the ending is wrapped up in a neat little bow where Sam suddenly has a near-perfect grip on her OCD. Another trope that people seem to love in stories, but that's rarely how it works in real life.

Taking the Hollywood-drama-trope copouts weakened the ending and moved the focus away from where I felt it was supposed to be: Sam's relationships with the people around her.

The real people, that is.

I really wanted to like this book all the way to the end. But while I can't speak for the OCD portrayal, I do not recommend this book to anyone looking for genuine, cathartic representation.

I know how I feel when I encounter this same trope in stories that do portray one of the illnesses I have, and it's not a good feeling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Toxic friendship, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Bullying and Stalking

Minor: Suicide, Cancer, and Death of parent

Strong internalized ableism is present throughout the entire book.

skxk929kd's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Cancer

theres just a page about beinng nervous about sex not graphic at all just talking about their first time its okay