Reviews tagging 'Grief'

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

9 reviews

ghostlyprince's review

emotional funny reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Abandonment, Homophobia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Religious bigotry, and Stalking

Minor: Gaslighting and Physical abuse

asipofcozy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.0

At the end of I Wish You All the Best I was left wanting more. More of Ben, more of Nathan, more of the dynamic between everyone because I absolutely adored this book. That beginning left me feeling so many things - anger, connection, frustration, hurt, jarred. And throughout the book I felt like I was being swept away with so many emotions and following along with Ben and their feelings.

What I think this book does really well at is showing the other side of reality and coming out. We are starting to really see an uptick in LGBTQIAP+ literature (which I am very grateful for). However, many of the books out there portray a lot positive coming-outs, which we need to feel hopeful, but at the same time we also need the ones where there isn't a positive coming out, like in the case of Benji coming out to their parents and being kicked-out.

I am not saying we shouldn't have all the positive examples of coming-out but for some of us coming-out was not a positive experience and we are left wondering, hoping will it get better? How can we move on from this? Can we still be accepted? Benji feels all of this and more, struggling through anxiety  and depression and fear of coming out ever again. I connected with them on such a large scale. 

My only critique would be that I wanted more, I wanted more of the characters, of the ending plot, of Nathan and Benji. More of Benji growing and gaining confidence. However, it seems like there is a Novella that is available to us so definitely picking it up :).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Transphobia, Homophobia, Abandonment, Mental illness, and Outing

Minor: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Also contains some body dysmorphia

rickireadss's review against another edition

4.25

this was heartbreaking but also it put my heart back together so nicely. i cried a lot while reading, especially the scenes between ben and their parents. their parents are absolute TRASH, and it hurt to see them mistreat ben. there is a romance subplot (and it made my heart very happy!!), but it’s not the main focus.

⚠️: transphobia, panic attacks/disorders, homophobia, emotional abuse, abandonment, child abuse, religious bigotry, disordered eating, grief, mental illness, dysphoria, suicidal thoughts

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Mental illness, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Dysphoria

mads1706's review

challenging emotional sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Transphobia and Grief

silasreads's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Deadnaming, Mental illness, Grief, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Transphobia, and Vomit

lyd41's review

emotional hopeful informative 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

2.75

Dialogue was terribly written and insufferable to read and also very out of character at times but I still liked the premise of the book. Plot was fun. Although cheesy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Mental illness, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

was honestly on the fence between giving this 3.5 or 4 stars, but eventually went w/ the latter, simply bc of how we just clicked, despite the fact that it's not a perfect book. i wish you all the best is a contemplative, tender, subtly romantic, complex, and realistic ownvoices book that delves into the issues faced by nonbinary folks. this is my first read w/ a major enby character, and i learned so, so much from it.

one thing i rly like is how the author's able to portray the messy tangle of all kinds of complex feelings, rather than rendering things completely black-and-white, esp in regards to ben's feelings towards his parents. i also love nathan, who's such a sweet, goofy support system for ben, and their interactions that are often filled w/ wry humor, sarcasm, and romantic tension. i like the therapy scenes as well; just sth wholly relatable. while i think that this book could've benefited from more editing--what w/ the noticeable amount of typos and errors--in the end, we just rly click, and im so happy that the world, but esp so many queer young ppl, has the chance to read such an important, possibly life-saving book like this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Mental illness, Outing, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Deadnaming, Grief, and Emotional abuse

yvonne_cl's review

hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, and Gaslighting

c_ab_bage's review

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? It's complicated

5.0

#nathancanyoupleasebemyplatonicsoulmatebecauseiloveyousofuckingmuchomgyouretheliteralsweetestbemyfriend

anyways-

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Islamophobia, and Transphobia