Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Na jedné vlně

Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Na jedné vlně by Jenn Bennett

38 reviews

thebooknook180's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

3.75

I feel like I saw this book marketed as a YA romance, and definitely don’t feel like that should be the case. Like yes, that’s on the forefront, but there are plot points of violence and trauma, and drug abuse of minors. (So just be warned) With that being said, weirdly enough I VERY much enjoyed this book. I’ve been in a horrible reading slump for months and flew through this one in 2 nights. The characters are funny, and the concept is new and fun. I loved the movie influence and the summer setting. I also live really close to where this book (basically) takes place, so it was fun imagining basically where I live. For me, the darker plot points I mentioned felt a bit random and unnecessary. But overall the characters were well written and that’s always my main thing. Gonna look into picking up her other books!

Content Warnings

fictionaladventures's review against another edition

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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

4.0

The way I pick my reads is I give a friend of mine a range of numbers that represents my TBR, and I read whatever book corresponds to the number she chooses. When she chose this book, I was honestly like 🙄🙄🙄 I was just not in the mood for contemporary, and if this book hadn’t been on my TBR for ages I wouldn’t even be interested in reading it at this point. So, I went into this fully expecting to DNF it.

But I DIDN’T. It actually hooked me, and as I read on, I liked it more and more. It wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read or anything, but I liked it faaaaar more than I expected. If I’m not reading fantasy or horror, it needs to be a fluffy romcom—more serious contemporaries aren’t my style anymore. But this was good! The characters were well fleshed out, I 100% believed Porter and Bailey’s romance (it’s annoying when you don’t know why two characters even like each other, but I totally felt their chemistry). It did get a little steamier than I prefer, especially for YA, but otherwise I definitely enjoyed it.

Trigger warnings for gun violence!!

Content Warnings

theespressoedition's review against another edition

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challenging tense fast-paced

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

1.5

After just a day or two of thinking about this book, I felt it necessary to lower the rating from 2.5 to 1.5 stars. This book made me so uncomfortable that even as I write this review, I can feel my shoulders begin to rise up around my ears in an unpleasant way.

First and foremost: this book should not be YA. If you aged up the female protagonist just a year and a half, it would've been NA or adult and that would've been much more suitable. Seeing as it is YA, my rating should hopefully make a bit more sense once I get into the details.

The content in this book is heavy. It's under the guise of being a cute, You've Got Mail kind of thing. Online friends who meet IRL but don't realize who the other person is. You know the drill. But now that you're imagining the kind of adorable confusion and mystery, add in the fact that the love interest was attacked by a shark as a kid and has the scars to prove it (both physically and emotionally) and the MC was kidnapped and shot as a child, giving her severe PTSD. OH, and the best friend of the love interest is a major drug addict who likes to just take a shotgun places and scare the crap out of people while high. YEAH. Not a cute, YA romcom.

As someone with my own fears of gun violence, I felt on edge the entire time I read this book. There were scenes I had to skim entirely just because of the discomfort. This is written for a younger audience and at nearly 30, I could barely handle it. Again I say, this should not be YA.

If you're looking for something fun, summer-y, and cute, look the other way. This isn't it.

Content Warnings