Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Long Shot

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

threeundertwopnw's review

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This was a really rough read and I'm not sure I'd recommend it to everyone. Major trigger warnings for domestic violence, rape, abuse, imprisonment and child endangerment. I was in a bad place myself reading part of this book, but had to finish it to make sure the heroine got through to the other side.

That said, the writing is amazing and quotable. The author obviously did extensive research because the circumstances and emotions and decisions ring true. If you are in a dangerous situation at home, call the Domestic Abuse Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233).

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beckyvh523's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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lizamariereads's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring sad 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? No

5.0

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ashliebysmashliereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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just_klaudia's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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jonezzzing's review

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3.5

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now_booking's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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? No

3.75

I’m torn about how I feel about this one. I think the themes and the characterization of Iris as a heroine that challenges what domestic abuse commonly looks like are eminently important… but I had niggling issues that I’m not yet quite sure how I feel about.

The premise is that August and Iris meet in a bar right before August’s professional basketball career takes off, but the timing is all wrong. Iris is in a relationship with August’s longtime nemesis, Caleb, and he’s signed for a team on the other side of the country. Yet the emotional connection between them is unbreakable as fate and the small world of professional basketball keep bringing them together. While August pines for Iris from a distance, he’s unaware of the real life demons she’s battling.

This is a really heavy book, a sad, viscerally painful, brutal and violent one. I think overall, the author did justice to the theme of domestic violence and fulfilled what she wrote in her preface in the book, of wanting to tell another story of staying in an abusive relationship. More or less all of the physical and sexual violence happens on page in the most brutal way- not once, but repeatedly. In many ways I’m undecided about how I feel about that portrayal. In a sense, it makes the intimate scenes later in the book almost healing in contrast. But in a sense, it in some ways felt perhaps a little gratuitous. I also had a few issues with the pacing of the book. It felt a little to me unbalanced in setting up Iris’s battle in such a detailed way and then rushing her healing and HEA in what felt a little less of a painstaking way. It doesn’t mean I found her healing journey unrealistic, I think it could be plausible. But it at times felt a little skim-y and glossed over. Some of the underlying issues and betrayals within Iris’s family for example even up to the end were kind of touched on but never truly explored. I think in that sense, this could have felt more together. There was also a part where early on, there was a passing glorification of a mixed heritage being a source of attraction that threw me off a bit and sort of unexplored discourse about colourism between Iris and Lotus but these are just minor things that grated at me a bit but did not affect my overall feeling about the importance of this book.

That said, I thought what was most fantastic was the theme of this book and the author taking on this topic and telling it in a different way and within the high profile world of professional men’s sports where (mostly female) partners of athletes are harshly judged for not toeing the line. Beyond that, it is a great, reflective book that challenges everyone who thinks they know exactly what they would do in an abusive situation- a book that greys out decisions that seems like they would be black and white. Of course the highest of trigger warnings for anyone who has experienced abuse especially intimate partner violence- there is a lot of on-page content. Overall, I liked this book. This is I believe my first book by this author and I would read more. I’m on to the next one in the series.

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