Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Girls and their Horses by Eliza Jane Brazier

10 reviews

leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Death, Murder, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, and Classism

Minor: Vomit, Cursing, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

cc_shelflove's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

13-year-old Maple is a little bit different. She has been picked on, bullied, and rejected over and over again. Her mother, Heather, has had enough. She decides to move her family to California for a fresh start. Heather has always had dreams of riding horses. After all, horse girls are the toughest girls around. The competition is cutthroat, however, and at the end of the summer, someone winds up dead. 😱

While there are snippets of detective's interviews throughout the book, the reader does not know who was murdered until reaching about ~90%. Unfortunately when the reveal was made, I was so underwhelmed. I read almost 400 pages for THAT? That said, I enjoyed the rest of the story and the character development overall. To be honest, it could have stood on its own without the murder. Why did the author try to turn this book into a "thriller" when it clearly was not?

My overall thoughts: As a thriller, this absolutely missed its mark. Considering it to be a family drama and coming-of-age story, though, its message was profound. I'm surprised the editors weren't as confused by this as I was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Drug use, Alcohol, Bullying, and Murder

maryannc's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Murder, Pregnancy, Bullying, and Death

Minor: Suicide

rheagoveas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use

ezwolf's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

This is not a genre I usually read, but there was a horse on the cover so of course I was interested. Which is pretty ironic considering the book and it’s opinion of horse girls (I personally consider this to be a gender neutral title at least for myself, I am still a horse girl even though I’m not a girl). 

The murder mystery aspect was interesting enough to keep me going and finish it, but I didn’t like any of the characters or particularly care about any of their individual storylines. 

I was thoroughly entertained by the description of barn culture though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Bullying, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Vomit, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcoholism

natalieba's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A super propulsive, fun/absurd read. I’m undecided about the ending and some parts just didn’t track for me, but I did look forward to picking this up while reading and it would be great for a beach/vacation read. Looking forward to talking about this with my bookish buddy who loves these kinds of books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, and Drug use

Moderate: Pregnancy

mysterymom40's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Bullying, Classism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Violence

minors drinking and illegally taking prescription drugs; sometimes on their own and other times aided by a parent; grooming

carolynlovesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

eeamiller's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Drug use, Bullying, and Murder

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Animal cruelty

goldenbeebookshop's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This book isn’t really about the glamorous world of rich moms putting their daughters through the elite world of competitive horse riding- that’s just the stage on which we see the challenges of family and growing pains play out on.
While there is a mystery- who is dead and why is a threaded needle piercing through the whole story, so you can’t forget about it, the story is more about people searching for family and belonging.  There are two moms and their respective daughters at the center of the story. Each is struggling to find their place in the world and to receive the kind of care they need in order to feel like a whole person. It’s steeped with generational trauma and questions about what kind of happiness money can buy.

The ending makes it feel a little bit slice of life- some things are figured out, some threads are tied off, but the futures of the women and girls feel uncertain and deeply malleable. 
An interesting ride for this non-horse world person. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Classism, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Murder