Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan

5 reviews

ohtoasty's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I think I would have rated this book higher if it was more forthcoming on what it was about. The first half seems like a questionable romance whereas the second half is an extreme mental health journey that is worrying and unsettling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Toxic relationship

The characters of this book were very polarizing to me. I quite liked Jubilee and her passion and care and how she moved throughout her spaces. Ridley frustrated me endlessly with how difficult he viewed things constantly, and honestly with how selfish he was. Throughout the first half of the book, maybe even more. It took a long time for me to have empathy for him. Once we started to learn how dire his situation was, it was easier to feel for him, but still incredibly fucked up that he goes to spy on her and her family.

The big accident in the book didn’t surprise me as we were leading up to it. Something traumatic like that is often how people realize how deep they are in a shitty situation. I was intrigued to read how often Jubilee realized she was lying to him trying to get him to safety. It was interesting to see a teenager essentially try to take care of another teenager. I was also frustrated at the ending. I didn’t like the implied they may get back together. I liked the first idea better where she basically told him no it wasn’t going to happen because of how bad everything went the first time. I felt that was a lot better of a message for the readers that you don’t need it to be romantic to keep a relationship with someone, and that maybe that’s better than trying to make it work again.

egsclafani's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Once I realized what it was an adaptation of, I had fun guessing how it would end. That was the main reason I finished it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Medical trauma, Car accident, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

itsy719's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Gaslighting, and Self harm

Minor: Vomit

writteninthebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Medical trauma

librarikay's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

4.5 / 5: this book was way more impacting than i initially gave it credit for. at first, i believed that it would be a simple love story between two characters from rival comic stores coming together through their love of comics. but in fact, as we switch from both of their perspectives, we see how impactful some of their issues become and how by internalizing it, it turns into a snowball that affects their relationships with others.

seeing how those issues knock together when these two meet, but there's an obvious show that they both really care for each other, it turns this story into one where two characters from two places meet and want to work. but what they really should better focus on is that through these connections, they have to focus on themselves most of all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Ableism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Mental illness