Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

95 reviews

sophie22's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Drug use, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship

happyberry27's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Drug use, Bullying, Child abuse, and Drug abuse

gcarney15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Drug use, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Self harm, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Car accident, Blood, Grief, and Cursing

marc_le's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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: Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Homophobia

tatmore's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

ericageorge91's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

3.25

The Foxhole Court follows Neil Josten, a boy trying to outrun his violent past. He gets recruited to a college Exy team, the Palmetto Foxes. A ragtag bunch whose members have only one thing in common: they all needed a second chance. 

In 2016, I devoured this trilogy in a week. Right now, my reread has proven that this was definitely not the 5⭐️ read I remember 🥴 I never noticed the massive amounts of exposition, for one thing, and the amount of times a grown man threw around the R word was  certainly…something. 

This isn’t the most realistic story, okay? By any means. The author didn’t want to research a sport so she created her own which may or may not be her approach towards the drugs in this universe. I don’t want to say this reads like fanfiction because there are quality fan-made stories out there, but parts of this story felt like someone prompted a Tumblr user to write a found family, sports AU with queer angst. 

To be fair, I think she delivered on that count. I think about these characters to this day. I read fanfiction about these characters to this day. I think the characters are the best part, to be honest. If you want a brain off, just vibes book, you could give this a chance. 

If you do decide to read this story DO NOT listen to the audiobook! You know how when someone does something talented, people will say, “Oh, rent was DUE!!” This guy…. 🤦🏾‍♀️ Rent was not due. Mortgage was not due. In fact, he received a generous gift and bought the place in cash. He sucked any and all soul from this story. All the characters sound the same and he sounds like someone told him to do a Fonzy impression the entire narration. It’s embarrassing. 

TW: Child abuse, murder, death, drinking, drug use, flashbacks, ablest slurs, sexual assault (forced kissing under the influence)

Rep: Asexual MMC, gay side character

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Ableism, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Vomit

simbkyr's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Mental illness, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Vomit, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Medical content, Rape, and Sexual harassment

it handles very dark topics and shouldn't be read without going through the tags and trigger warnings first

brookeisbusyreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense fast-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

[I had started reading this book in December 2022, but I stopped about halfway through. I was thrown off by how different it was from what I thought it would be. Still, I wanted to give it another go.]

I want to start this off by saying I wish the book had been longer. Because there were so many characters, and a few intersecting plots, I would like to have seen some things drawn out more - a few scenes in particular.

There are a few critiques I have:
- There’s a big cast and, while we see little things that set them apart from one another, I thought they could have been developed a little more. (I hope the next books do that.)
- Like I mentioned, I think the book should be longer. I was surprised when I started getting introduced to all these characters knowing the book is less than 300 pages. A few scenes come to mind that I would’ve liked to be just a little longer and include more details.
- While I get that Kevin is connected to Neil, it almost felt like the focus on the MC (Neil) shifted a bit to Kevin as the book progressed. I list this as a critique but it’s more a question of the author’s thoughts behind that choice.
- The fact that Aaron and Andrew are twins is cool…but I found it hard to tell them apart at first because both their names start with A.


I don’t normally start with critiques first in my reviews, but this book still has me confused… I binged it in a few hours because I was that invested, though I do feel it was rushed. Almost like getting caught in a tornado. It was fitting considering the psychotic, strangely likeable monster that is Andrew.

Honestly, I don’t get why I like this book exactly but I know it has to do with the characters. Neil is so interesting! He’s a mystery you solve early on yet get surprised with how you get to the end. His internal struggles are obvious and so is his desire (or maybe exhaustion) with just wanting to be normal…and play Exy of course.

I love how each character has their own edge, their own trauma, and their own mixed feelings. And they still all rally behind Kevin. It’s this weird ‘everyone does their own thing until it’s time to work together’ set up that somehow works (slightly glossing over the fact that they like to beat the crap out of each other regularly).

The Foxhole Court is an absolute mess - a broken, chaotic, strung together mess that, even at it’s most broken, won’t fall apart no matter what. And that is just one of its strengths.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Alcoholism

Minor: Murder and Death of parent

infinite_helix's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

I literally cannot rate this. It’s amazing. It’s awful. I want to hide the characters away and also smack half of them upside the head for being assholes. So much problematic.  But omg did I devour this. Like in two days. As in: up till the wee hours squinting at my phone screen. As in: immediately had the urge to make myself a jersey for this fake college sports team. I love vicious, damaged people being unabashedly different, not doing anything by “normal” rules because they aren’t “normal” and shouldn’t have to pretend to be, and still there’s love and loyalty and it’s twisted and warped from trauma and pain but is it not still love? 

There’s something about seeing your ugly parts you’ve hidden being reflected so honestly in a book and being told you can still win and be a team and be a champion and leave the things you don’t want and move on and you don’t have to be soft, you can be ugly and callused and you’ll find your people who understand and know and are doing the same and they will love you and you will love them and that’s what it’s about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Self harm, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Stalking, Death, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Bullying, Outing, Mental illness, Trafficking, Child abuse, and Murder

Literally so many horrible things propelling all of the characters and their relationships but the overarching plot is that they are all (except for Andrew) desperate to play this sport that consumes their lives and gives them purpose. To the point they’re willing to face off against gangs and their horrible pasts barreling towards them for the chance to make this team legendary. They are all deeply traumatized and have terrible coping mechanisms and take it out on each other frequently. But they are also a team, and they will not let one of their number be taken away.

cyancookie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death of parent, Vomit, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual content and Child abuse