Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

110 reviews

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

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

4.0

He has a past, it’s dark and he doesn’t want to ever experience anything like that again. So he will not date or be involved with anyone in a romantic way, because that leads to love and he can’t do that again either. But when Tate moves in across the hall he can’t stay away. So they agree to a situationship, just sex, no talking about the past or the future. 
This book was good!! I love a story that makes me feel something and this one broke my heart and pieced it together again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Pregnancy, Medical content, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, Alcohol, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

michellegould's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Where do I start?
I can't be the only one that really cringed and struggled with how toxic Miles is throughout the book. Given his back story it may be understandable but still hard to read since we were seeing him in his present. 

He hardly ever talks or smiles so it's hard to understand what Tate likes about him other than his incredible abs. She's not allowed to ask him any questions himself so she knows absolutely 0 about him. I take that back. She knows he likes the color black and he's a pilot. 

Tate was more likeable because we got to see a little bit more of her personality but man I just wanted her to STAND UP for herself. Not just with Miles but also with her overprotective brother.

Even at the very end when Miles finally tells her why he is the way he is...she just sits there and doesn't say anything! Not even a like"let's talk through this" before she just lets him jump back in and assume that now they can be together because he's finally told her about his past.

When we get glimpses of Miles' backstory as an 18 year old the formatting of those chapters were incredibly....weird. If the goal was to make him seem more juvenile it was a success....but it actually made him seem like a 12-year old child instead of 18-year old boy. (Also the narrator in the audiobook was tough to listen to in addition to the weird writing.)

There were at least two sex scenes that were incredibly painful to read. Both of which were super unhealthy and I'm not sure how you recover from them. He didn't have an ounce of emotion in his entire body and every moment that could even be classified as cute or emotional he immediately turned it sexual. 

When we finally get the entirety of Miles' back story there is little to no healing on the page yet we still get his redemption at the end. I would have loved to hear more of his personal healing from his trauma. It felt like we jumped from super problematic character to the big reveal and then straight to the makeup. Just because a big reveal has been made to readers does not mean all is ok.

We should have gotten more of his healing journey on the page before we jumped to "happy ending." It was too abrupt. As a character he had no arc. He was flatlining and then took a huge jump at the literal end of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol and Death

bribalareads's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

This was not my favorite CH. An easy read, but to me it tried too hard. CH for me either hits it out of the park or is just ok. This was ok.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Alcohol

lauraelovesbooks's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Reread in 2024. A compulsively readable, messy story of the ugly parts of loving someone and letting them love you back. I will admit I found myself more frustrated with this book the second time around, particularly with Miles and the dissonance between his words and actions (which is the entire point of this book, but it just didn’t land the same way for me re-reading it) 

I would have really loved to see more of Miles working on himself outside of the relationship and working with a professional. Everything wrapped up so magically and cleanly here.

All that said, I still really enjoy reading this book and the part of me that relishes reading about messy relationships is certainly satisfied (The “just finish” scene lives in my brain rent free) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol and Injury/Injury detail

allerssi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Incest, Stalking, Cannibalism, Child death, Abortion, Bullying, Miscarriage, Death, Child abuse, Addiction, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Grief, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Abandonment

fiercereadsfiction's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Alcohol

kotashomelibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child death, and Car accident

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual harassment, and Sexism

c_marie226's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

1.75

I don’t think this author is for me. I found the guy insufferable and the girl barely written. There is a lot of trauma and it feels like it is done just to make the book more dramatic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Grief, Child death, and Car accident

destinynichole11's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Death, Grief, Cursing, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Cancer, Car accident, Blood, Child death, and Alcohol

lbooch24's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Alcohol and Incest