Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

119 reviews

nellienelson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.75

I JUST FINISHED READING IT AND I LOVED IT SO MUCH OMG. The representation was so good, so was the storyline and the story itself. I could really relate to the characters. Even though I already suspected what the plot twist would be somewhere in the middle of the book, it still had me on the edge of my seat while reading. It was so well-written and just amazing. 
I definitely recommend!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Deadnaming, Death, Dysphoria, Murder, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Outing, Violence, Death of parent, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

rkapur8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense 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? No

4.5

This is a sweet and heartfelt story of finding onesself when drowned in a culture set in traditional ways.

The journey that Yadriel has is backed by this firecracker that is Julian, and further strengthened by the interactions had by Maritza, Flaca, Luca, Rocky, and FINALLY, his own dad.

The reason for the little dip in the rating would be how expected but sudden the climax is.

You have this adorable teen romance, sparse with tense moments of family or spirit antics, when suddenly Tio Catriz at the centre of an evil power well trying to bring back Bahlam from Xibalba and curse all the brujx around him.

Obviously the mystery aspect needed to be resolved, but the action jump was sudden and short. Loved the story overall and those last few chapters showed major jumps for a lot of people around Yadriel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Death, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

alexxakay's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-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? No

2.5

2.5 ⭐️

A beautiful, well written debut that suffers from horrid pacing. It’s over 300 pages and takes place over three days. The first few chapters had me hooked, but the middle dragged, with the saving grace lying in the last 60 or so pages.

The characters are incredibly vibrant and loveable, with a MLM reluctant friends to lovers romance that made me melt. A great spooky season read if you don’t mind a slow pace. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Blood and Child abuse

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Animal death, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Transphobia

Moderate: Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Bullying, and Cursing

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Religious bigotry, Racism, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Police brutality

Discussion of gangs

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.5

An astounding book with no shortage of heart-wrenching teen drama. Yadriel is a brujo, one of the male members of a necromantic tradition stretching back to pre-colonial Central America. He is also transgender and accidentally falls in love with the first spirit he raises, Julian. With the backdrop of a mysterious death in the brujo community and the possibility that Julian's death is linked, I literally burned the midnight oil to read the end of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Transphobia, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Cursing, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexism, Stalking, Misogyny, Bullying, Confinement, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racism, Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Deadnaming, Deportation, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Colonisation, Alcohol, and Vomit

thenerdybookwitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

Amazing book! I cried so many times, laughed so many times—one of my new fave books I will treasure it. I cannot wait for the eventually sequel to come! 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Deadnaming, Death, Cursing, Transphobia, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Gaslighting, and Medical content

Minor: Classism, Ableism, Alcohol, Deportation, Child abuse, Vomit, Bullying, and Cultural appropriation

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, Sexism, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Medical content, Transphobia, Self harm, Body horror, Gore, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, Racism, Deportation, Child abuse, Gun violence, Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Deadnaming, Car accident, Drug use, and Xenophobia

Self-harm for ritualistic purposes.

ollie_again's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Transphobia, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Deadnaming, Deportation, Violence, and Child abuse

venusect's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

I fell in love with the characters! The fact that this book had a magical/supernatural plot line with a queer, transmasc, Latinx main character really resonated with me from the start. A small issue I have with one part is

how did Maritza save Yadriel without animal blood? How she did it isn’t revealed, so it’s just a little odd. I guess that just adds on to the “you can always go against tradition, fight norms, etc” message, but if you don’t follow it up with solid context, it just ends up feeling empty.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Blood

Minor: Child abuse, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

peachani's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Blood, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Grief and Child abuse

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Kidnapping