Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Lovely War by Julie Berry

17 reviews

juanat77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Violence, Gore, Alcohol, Hate crime, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Death, War, Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Sexism

dwdillydally's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Mental illness, and Racial slurs

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual assault

aplain's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Racism, Child death, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Death, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Gore

Minor: Cursing and Sexual assault

shayna14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

5.0

this book caught me by surprise bc i don't like reading abt wars, but the greek mythology definitely made up for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Medical content, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Misogyny, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Cursing, Grief, and Hate crime

Moderate: Police brutality and Slavery

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Blood, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Racism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Sexual violence, and Murder

rafafinhass's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, War, Death, Racial slurs, and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Mental illness

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

padawan17's review

emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

I don't like romances. I usually find them boring and infuriating. But this one is an exception. I adore this book. I love every character, I love that is narrated by Greek gods, I love that it is a romance, but Berry grapples with other issues too. Racism in the 1910s, war, death, grief, it's all there, but it's so hopeful. I cried many times. Do yourself a favor and read this. For me, it's better every time I reread it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, War, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Blood, Bullying, and Cursing

mme_carton's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, War, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Police brutality, Abandonment, and Rape

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense 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

2.0

I really wanted to like this story more. But this book is SO long and I felt like the gods being a part of the story, in theory sounds really interesting, but the way Berry goes about it by having Aphrodite be on trial made the story convoluted, for me at least. I don’t get why there had to be alternating timelines, one from the first World War wherein we have our four mortal main characters and one timeline from the second World War when Aphrodite is on trial, it just felt disjointed to me. Why have the second timeline at all? Just tell the first timeline from the POV of the gods, no need for Aphrodite to be on trial in a separate time period, it just made no sense to me and I feel like made the book more longwinded then it needed to be.

I did love the build up of the two couple’s relationships, how Berry covers what many people went through during the war in these four main characters. However, the ending felt so rushed. We have almost 500 pages of build up to find out what happened to them in like 5 pages at the end of the book, summarized very briefly by the gods.

I loved the journey, the fleshing out of the characters, peeling back the grim layers of war and not shying away from the army’s racism but rather shining a light on it. I loved the history, the feelings of first love and second chances after one had maybe lost their first love. That I loved, it’s just a shame the ending was so rushed kind of helter-skelter like otherwise I probably would have rated it higher.

Berry definitely did her research for this book, I will say that for sure. There is a historical note in the back where she sites many books and a bibliography as well. So that was not a miss, the care in which she took to tell multiple sides of the war (both without and within) must be acknowledged. 

But pacing was this book’s downfall, too long and convoluted to get to such a lackluster ending… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death, and Hate crime

bryelle's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted 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? No

5.0

This story is told by Greek goddess and gods. They are telling if 2 intertwine love stories. And how they relate to the gods lives. They all have different points of view in these amazing stories taking place during World War 1. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Hate crime, and Racism

Moderate: Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content