Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

24 reviews

foreverinastory's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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

Damn this was amazing! I should've read it sooner. Also someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is mainly set in Trinidad & Tobago?

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty is a romance novel that follows Feyi, a grieving widow. After 5 years, Feyi thinks she's ready to go back on the dating scene. Feyi first finds Milan, who is hot and makes her feel attraction for the first time in a long time. But neither is ready or willing to open up, so after a brief friends with benefits fling, they go their separate ways. What Feyi doesn't expect is Milan's friend, Nasir, to call her immediately after and attempt to woo her.

Feyi feels something for Nasir, but she's wary of romance and dating since the death of her spouse, Jonah. The two agree to be friends and take it slow. The synopsis says these two are dating, but I think that's a mislabel. They agree to be friends first and foremost. Now Feyi goes into this relationship to eventually pursue something romantic with Nasir, but she's not quite ready to jump into it.

The two head off on a trip to meet Nasir's family and have Feyi attend an art show on the island. When Feyi meets Nasir's dad, Alim Blake, there's something between them that she can't deny. As she gets to know Alim, she finds someone who understands her pain of losing her spouse too soon. Something Nasir could never understand. Feyi is unsure how to navigate this growing attraction with Alim and her possible relationship with Nasir. Especially since she's starting to think Alim returns her attraction.

Look this book won't be for everyone. But I think it is an amazing second chance romance between two people who have lost people before. Something that really bothered me about Nasir's reaction to finding out about Feyi and Alim (who had only kissed up to that point) was that he felt entitled to Feyi's body and I'm not here for that. Even if you are in a relationship with someone, you don't owe them your body. You don't owe a partner sex. Consent is needed every single time and it can be revoked at ANY point. Kissing someone doesn't automatically mean you are going to have sex with them.

This book is very messy and maybe even a little unhinged, but relationships and life are fucking messy. Attraction doesn't always follow logic and most people can't turn their attraction off like a tap. I found the relationship between Feyi and Alim much more intimate, romantic and trusting than I did between Feyi and Nasir.

Lastly, Joy is the best and I love her with all my heart. Please Akwaeke can we have a companion/sequel about Joy.

Rep: Nigerian-American bisexual cis female MC with PTSD and anxiety, Afro-Carribean bisexual cis male side character, Afro-Carribean hetersexual cis male side character, Ghanian-American lesbian cis female side character, various Black and Afro-Carribean side characters.

CWs: Grief, death, sexual content, blood, death of parent, cursing, mental illness (PTSD and anxiety), biphobia/bimisia, injury/injury detail, homophobia/homomisia. Moderate: Violence, past car accident, domestic abuse, alcohol consumption, child death, suicidal thoughts, toxic relationship, misogyny, sexism, cancer mention. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Death of parent, Blood, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Biphobia, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Misogyny, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Violence, Child death, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Cancer, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts

agnesbebon's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Messy, beautiful, alive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Death of parent, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

sparklefarm's review against another edition

lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Spicy. Messy. But also filled with depth and warmth. And I realized that romance is not the genre for me! If I can't fully enjoy one as well written as this, I think I'll stop trying. But if you like romance, I think this is a good one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Car accident, Death, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

shaipanda's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad 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

4.75

This book is absolutely beautiful 
It took me a really long time to finish it for some reason cause I kept starting and stopping it but I absolutely loved it and just ugh absolutely beautiful 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

arsenic_'s review against another edition

dark

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Acephobia/Arophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

marena02's review

dark emotional funny reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Grief

mspecht's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Car accident

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

queenofthefae's review

challenging emotional tense

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

4.0

I did really enjoy this book, and probably would’ve absolutely loved it if not for the initial discomfort I felt with the premise of the main conflict —

that Feyi falls in love with and decides ultimately to pursue a relationship with the father of the man she’s already involved with.

I don’t really have a problem with age-gap romances, but that particular vein of relationship dynamic really squicked me out for some reason, to the point where I almost put the book down. I could see by about halfway where the plot was headed, but I think it must have been more the anticipation of

Feyi crossing into *something* with Alim

than anything else, because for the last third or so of the book once they’d crossed that line, so to speak, I was much more okay with it. I still didn’t love that dynamic situation, but not so badly I wanted to stop reading. Overall, I really did enjoy the book, and aside from that one aspect, really don’t have anything negative to say.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

hilaryreadsbooks's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

lettuce_read's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Cursing, Biphobia, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Car accident and Suicidal thoughts