Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

7 reviews

shelvesofivy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Ohhhhhh my goodness, this book ♡
It had been on my tbr for a few years and I'd known how beloved and cherished this book is, especially among other nonbinary people. Now I know firsthand how special this book is 💛🤍💜🖤
This book hits you hard right from the very start, continues to give sucker punches, but then also builds you back up. Ben's story will be forever cemented into my heart I think. 
I fell in love with the cast of characters who loved and supported Ben through everything. Nathan especially had my heart as a fellow bookworm and Pride & Prejudice fan lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, Biphobia, and Cursing

Minor: Medical content and Suicidal thoughts

chris_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, and Transphobia

Moderate: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing and Vomit

emily_mh's review

emotional hopeful slow-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

3.25

I don't know how to rate and review this, but here goes. The mental health rep here was handled really well. It portrayed anxiety and depression realistically; meds didn't work perfectly, Ben initially had an aversion to both therapy and medication, and their recovery wasn't linear. I also thought the nuance that Deaver brought to Ben and Hannah's relationship was good. I appreciated that they showed how Hannah wasn't necessarily in the wrong, but Ben could still be hurt by her actions. There wasn't much plot, but I still enjoyed reading it because it was super cathartic seeing Ben start to heal. I think they come a long way by the end of the book. 

On the other hand, I think some other rep and information was not done well. For example, I really wish Nathan had been fleshed out as a character. It kind of felt like Deaver took the stereotypical "golden retriever" LI archetype and left it at that, giving him no motivations or desires unrelated to Ben. While it was obvious Ben and Nathan had a connection, one I was rooting for, it still felt like I barely knew Nathan. This is the book's biggest issue, because I think it is an example of the situation that readers and reviewers of the global majority have been pointing out for ages, where white authors write a LI of the global majority whose only purpose in the book is to assist the white MC in their development. If I am wrong here or out of my lane, I will fully delete this review. I wanted to flag it in case I wasn't.

On top of this, the book presents some misinformation about being gay, ace, and aro. It implies that a nonbinary person like Ben cannot be gay because being gay is about being attracted to the same gender, and as Ben doesn't have a gender, they cannot experience same-gender attraction. In reality, being gay is simply about non-women being attracted to non-women. This is the quote I am referring to:

"And besides, I don’t exactly have a gender, and being gay implies being interested in the same gender."

It also implies that to be ace or aro is to be touch averse, when only some aces and aros are touch averse - it's this very piece of misinformation that means so many aces and aros don't realise they are asexual or aromantic for ages. Literally a simple "some" in this sentence would have fixed this misinformation: 

“'Touch aversion can be common in people who deal with panic attacks, or people dealing with anxiety. In fact, there are some people who are just born or develop that way, like asexual or aromantic people.'”

So, yeah. Do with this what you will.

Rep: bisexual NB MC, bisexual LI of the global majority (ethnicity not explicitly stated), Bahraini Shia Muslim pansexual NB SC, Chinese-American SC, SC of the global majority (Ben's therapist Dr. Taylor, whose ethnicity is also not explicitly stated), Black SC (implied, ethnicity not explicitly stated), Korean-American SC with ADHD

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Transphobia

Moderate: Abandonment and Cursing

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Death, Physical abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Major: disownment, misgendering (mostly uninformed as Ben isn't out to most people) Moderate: body dysmorphia Minor: one implied use of the transphobic t-slur, suicidal ideation, off-page use of the homophobic f-slur, 1 HP reference, menstruation

peachani's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Mental illness, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Gaslighting, Medical content, Vomit, Dysphoria, and Physical abuse

leni_cant's review against another edition

emotional hopeful relaxing fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment

Moderate: Physical abuse and Dysphoria

Minor: Medical content, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

nikexistiertnik's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

i'm actually in love with this book.
i spent my day reading it and when i tried to do anything else (like watching horseland or taking a nap) it didn't take long for me to pick it up again.
i don't know what it was, but i found myself laughing out loud, crying, squeaking and screaming, almost having panic attacks with ben, so i actually had to pause and concentrate on calming down before i could continue reading, but also getting hella excited and really having to force myself not to skip entire pages when there was too much tension and excitement for me to handle.
thank you for this story, i loved everything about it - the pain i felt, how much i could relate to ben, and the pure joy and happiness i experienced because of them.
and now i definitely have to check out mariam haidari.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Deadnaming, and Medical content

Minor: Religious bigotry, Vomit, Outing, and Eating disorder

luananki's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

i cannot thank mason deaver enough for writing this book. i can’t put into words how much i appreciate ben’s story and all the characters that came with it. the amount of representation in this book is incredible, i loved it so much. 

ben is an amazing protagonist. i related to them a lot and i was crying and laughing and screaming because this book is so so important. 

have to say i was a bit worried at first that it would just be another heartbreaking queer story but it’s not and i’m very happy about that.

forever thankful for this book, i loved every page of it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Dysphoria, Medical content, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Vomit, and Outing