Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Sempre Em Frente by Rainbow Rowell

90 reviews

greenrequiem's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse

eetishmeh's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

[This review was written after finishing the whole Simon Snow trilogy. It does not contain spoilers for the other books.]

This book was awesome! I love the trope subversion and this take on the Chosen One trope. (I also love golden retriever and wet cat dynamics so you've got me there. Also, I love Penny as well, so really I just love basically everything about this book.)
I accidentally sped through the entire trilogy—200+ chapters!—within 4 days, a feat which I'm pretty sure I haven't achieved before.

Some thoughts I had while reading this book, to sate your curiosity if you're like me and can't resist clicking all the spoiler tags in the review section:
Baz stop simping for Simon for two seconds challenge (impossible)
Glad they portray the manipulative mentor as a manipulative mentor, unlike some people *cough*JKRfailingtowriteDumbledore*cough*
I have a soft spot for sarcastic gay vampires with dark hair and magic

I still don't know if I'm pronouncing the name Bunce properly.
Anyway, 10/10 would recommend. If you want a humorous Romeo-and-Juliet, enemies-to-lovers story (with less tragedy for the lovers) paired with fantasy happenings, banter between friends, a super epic magic system and much better representation than Harry Potter, this is the book for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

Please look further into what warnings come with this book if necessary! I likely forgot a few things

etmetmetm's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Kidnapping

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia and Suicide attempt

mackenzienoelle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

3.25

Took me ages to get through it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Violence, Murder, Drug use, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

marciafelis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

Someone recommended this book to me as (in short) "Harry Potter but better", and it did not disappoint. I love the way magic works in this book, and the characters were vibrant and most of them were very relatable. As some other reviewers have pointed out, the story does feel like very elaborate (and well-written) fanfiction at times. For me, that's more of a feature than a bug, but some people might be a bit exasperated by the tropes employed.

One minor gripe is that apparently none of the characters know bisexuality is a thing. It would be fine if it was just that

Simon

hasn't thought of it (with emphasis on how

he

often "doesn't think") or doesn't want to define

him

self/use that label (yet), but someone (at the very least

the psychologist Simon starts seeing in the epilogue

) could have brought it up. I'll see how it's going to turn out in the next book, though, as I'm going to Carry On reading!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Classism, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

brynn_books's review against another edition

4.0

It was a little slow at first. It was a little hard to get into the story and very confusing. I was just like, “What is going on??” But then the story picks up and I was just thrown into this whirlwind of emotions. 

The magic system was also kind of confusing, it took me basically the whole book to understand it and I still don’t get it. 

Towards the end of the book, there was just plot twist after plot twist after plot twist that was so beautifully executed and I loved everything about. It was like I was getting whiplash. 

I loved the dynamic between Penny and Simon. I loved their friendship and just seeing a great friendship represented in this book was awesome and I love how it was a platonic friendship and how nothing romantic was going on between them. 

I do have to say that Agatha annoyed me several times throughout this book and she was probably my least favorite character but I didn’t care as much because I was just focused on Penny, Simon and Baz. 

I try not to take this too seriously. It kind of reads like poorly written fanfiction. But I love Baz and Simon (especially Baz). The worst part of this book was the first 100 or so pages before Baz showed up. That part was so frustrating to read. Overall, this was a pretty average read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Kidnapping, and Animal death

strange_little_ranger's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Death, Drug use, Grief, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Alcohol, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

frannyd's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Suicide, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

directorpurry's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Death of parent and Blood

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Animal death, Biphobia, Classism, Murder, Violence, Death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Vomit, and War