Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

64 reviews

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

emotional tense 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

3.5

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas is a prequel to her book The Hate U Give, focusing on Starr’s father, Maverick as the main character. I was a little sad to not have a female main character (because I love Starr and Bri), but I think in this case, it actually worked to the story’s benefit. I really loved Mav, and watching him go through his struggles first hand was a more rewarding journey than I was expecting it to be. With most prequels, I am annoyed by the fact that we know where the characters end up, but there is a lot that Starr doesn’t know about her dad in The Hate U Give. This actually makes this prequel feel fresh and new, even though we already know the fates of the characters. I think this book also address a lot of really important social issues, that are important to understand in order to promote discussion and progress in certain areas. I think that like the other two in this series, Concrete Rose is an important read that is worth everyone’s time, regardless of age.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Racism, Addiction, Classism, Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Death, Racial slurs, Gore, Gun violence, Child death, Vomit, and Sexual content

_ren's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Misogyny, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

demyajanayxo's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

if angie thomas can’t do anything else, she will move me to tears. i loved mav in the hate u give and it’s no different here. his backstory fleshes out and develops his character so well. this book also shows the cycles of gang violence. the parallelism was done so well.

mav witnesses dre’s death and starr with khalil’s.

my chest got tight when baby khalil was introduced, since we know how his story ends. i’m grateful that concrete rose ends on a slightly positive note, because i can’t take more heartbreak. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, and Violence

kristapeters's review

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Pregnancy, and Violence

tenika04's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

The book focuses on the challenges that young maverick faced after becoming a father. The age in life when you should be care and stress free, yet the pressures of life, parenting, friendships & the cycle of life because of the neighbourhood you grow in weighs heavily on you. Sell or struggle? Sometimes it felt like he couldn’t catch a break and that was all I wanted for him as he certainly was a trier. I loved the relationship with his mum & the support/encouragement from good old Mr Wyatt. Pleasant to read a book from a male POV.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Drug abuse

zombiezami's review

challenging reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Classism, Violence, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Murder, Death, Pregnancy, and Bullying

Moderate: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Excrement, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Stalking, Vomit, Drug use, Police brutality, Mental illness, Medical content, Death of parent, Confinement, and Addiction

Minor: Slavery, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

Incarcation, Gang violence

btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Vomit, Bullying, and Cursing

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

When I read The Hate U Give a few years ago, I fell completely in love with Starr and her family, and the whole community. So it was so good to revisit them. Maverick felt like a character with a huge backstory and I loved being able to delve into that.

In THUG, Mav has his shit together and he's a calming, safe presence for his kids. So it's kind of comforting and sweet to see him as a scared kid who's in way over his head, and how he develops from one extreme to the other.

It's funny, even knowing the outcome of this book I still had my heart in my mouth at times. This is another heartbreaking story from a community beset by tragedy, but with so much love at its heart. Going so deeply into Mav's history and learning more about him made me want to go back to THUG and see how much I missed the first time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense 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? Yes

5.0

Wow was this a good book. I’m so happy she decided to write this because maverick was probably one of if not my favorite character in the hate you give. I just really enjoyed getting his back story and to see how certain things came to be. This talks about such important topics. I really liked the characters in this especially the family. This book had me going through all the emotions. I’m so glad I finally read this one and enjoyed it. Plus the cover is gorgeous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Classism, Murder, Racism, Drug use, Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, and Violence

vercopaanir's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

It made me furious about the state of our nation and emotional and hopeful for Maverick and his family. I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Violence, and Drug use

Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Drug abuse, and Excrement

Minor: Abandonment, Biphobia, Medical content, and Slavery