Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

So Happy for You by Celia Laskey

9 reviews

mandareads222's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Cursing, Kidnapping, Confinement, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Vomit, Death of parent, Excrement, Violence, Medical content, and Death

Minor: Gun violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Infidelity

stacy837's review

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Medical content and Murder

Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, Blood, Alcohol, and Vomit

kellyreadingbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

I can completely see why this book isn’t for everyone. And honestly, after reading this book I can see how I’m not everyone’s cup of tea either, and come to find more peace with it. This book is brilliant and addictive. It’s almost this dystopian world of weddings- brides have gotten crazy doing “charms” for their weddings to bring their marriages longevity like sacrificing rabbits and carrying sage and garlic bouquets down the aisle. Robin is a queer badass professor writing a dissertation on this craze when she’s asking to be maid of honor for her “basic bitch” PSL loving best friend Ellie from high school. Besides this strange movement of the government out to endorse weddings and increase the population being an intriguing plot point, I loved Robin. I loved the messiness of her strong opinions and boundary crossing for the things she believes in. She’s such a real and fascinating character to follow. I related so much to her not being able to let things go and harboring repressed emotions for years. This is a book about female friendship and toxicity that can follow it. It’s about societal expectations and gender politics. Beginning this book, everything is so black and white through Robins eyes and then we slowly as a reader follow along Robin seeing how everything is in fact, gray. This is definitely an atypical thriller that is so much more than the premise. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Homophobia, and Racism

fluffy1st's review

dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent

jenmcvay's review

challenging dark funny sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Animal death, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent

jessamichellexo's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

1.0

This book honestly makes me want to strangle the author. The one dimensional personalities of Robin & Ellie are so, so infuriating it isn't even funny. The writing is absolutely sloppy & insensitive on so many different levels. Literally the only thing I liked about this book is the cover. 😤

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Bullying, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death of parent

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abortion, Cursing, Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Excrement, Alcohol, Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Murder, and Blood

pey333's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Animal death

Moderate: Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Sexism

Minor: Abortion and Cultural appropriation

dalmavatai's review against another edition

dark funny reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

This book was surprisingly good - it was a quick read and a fun, silly time which I could have loved even more if we'd gotten more character development and the psychological aspect of the story had been more prominent. I enjoyed the commentary on the wedding and marriage industry and often found Robin to be deeply relatable to my own experiences, but I also thought she had a lot of internalized sexism & misogyny which was perhaps not addressed as much as I would've liked it to. There's also many instances of cultural appropriation, especially regarding yoga and meditation that you would think would be at least acknowledged by Robin - this to me suggests that her brand of feminism is a very white feminism, especially given that race and class as factors that deeply interact with gender are not even mentioned once, despite feminist commentary being such a core part of the story and of Robin's character. So I wish the conversations that the book prompted had gone a little deeper and been more complex, but overall this was a fun, quick read that I needed on the day of a not-so-fun dental surgery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, Homophobia, Animal death, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse