Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic

51 reviews

infinite_mirrors's review

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emotional hopeful 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

5.0

This is a rating from the heart, okay? A soul rating. Once again Nora has me by the throat. 

This book is every bit as dramatic and ridiculous as the other AFTG books, and I ate it up!! I love Jean, I love Jeremy, I love Cat and Laila, of course I love my feral son Neil whenever he shows up. This book also employs one of my absolute favorite, criminally underused tropes: when characters are introduced that are part of a group of some kind, such as a team, a religion, a species, etc.; and we assume their quirks and habits and way of life are just the standard for that group. Then, later, more characters from that same collective are introduced who are just. The most absurdly normal people. And we realize, oh, those other guys are just freaks!

We spent three books with the Foxes and Ravens, the most traumatized and maladjusted group of people you've ever seen in your life, who all speak in edgy Green Day lyrics and treat exy like it's their religion. And now, suddenly, we get an inside look into a third team, which is comprised of a bunch of normal college kids who play a sport; and we realize that most teams are comprised of normal people playing a sport, and no one actually knows just how co-dependent and cult-like an exy team can get. The Ravens and Foxes live in a completely different world than the rest of the exy players. 

"He hasn't played a clean game in years," Kevin admitted, "but he knows how to follow orders. If you tell him to submit, he will."
"Literally the most awkward way you could've worded it," Jeremy said.

We're used to the dialogue being ultra dramatic and serious, but juxtaposed with a totally normal guy like Jeremy's reaction, it's hilarious. The stark contrast between their realities is jarring. In Jean's case, it's usually downright heart-breaking. But every now and then the humor pokes through, because we all know it's ridiculous, and now we finally have some other characters who can point out how ridiculous it is.

Ridiculous, but heartfelt. As with the rest of the books, the love the author has for this story shines through every page. Nora embraces the cringe and commits to it, and so it transcends cringe and becomes... kind of beautiful, actually. Outrageous and overly-dramatic and angst-ridden and tropey, and an absolute banger.

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elasebmore's review

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challenging dark sad tense slow-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

5.0


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bookswithian's review

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5.0


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flowerparrish's review

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emotional inspiring tense medium-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

5.0

I have wanted this book desperately since 2016 and it lived up to every hope of what it could be. 

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lara11209's review

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dark emotional hopeful sad 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


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natnat_7's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful sad 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


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what_the_puck's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0


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allforevermore's review

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dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Can I give more than 5 stars? Cause if I could I would because it's what this book deserves. I put those 5 stars when it showed up because I knew, I just knew, it was going to be good and I WAS RIGHT!!
My heart and soul are so broken, it took me two whole days to read it because I kept taking breaks to cry and try my best to deal with what was going on.
I'm so proud of Jean, he went through so much even as a little kid, he suffered so much yet, somehow, he found the strength to wake up and deal with another day, another torture, another practice. He never deserve any of that. I wish I could protect him and give him every that's good in life.

Thank you Nora, thank you for making this book.

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mviolet11's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense

5.0


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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful 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

♡ Jean Healing
♡ So Many Queer Characters
♡ Jeremy Being an Absolute Sweetheart

Everything about this book was fucking amazing!!  And the fact Nora had her sister design the cover again was so awesome.  While yes, a lot of this book was sad and filled with all the things Jean had to deal with—or at least most of the things he had to deal with, there was healing, a glimpse of hope for him and oh my god, if he doesn’t get the happiest of endings I will riot. 

Jeremy, the sunshine court himself was so wholesome.  His patients with Jean was written so lovely.  Their friendship (that hopefully is something more later) is so wonderful.  Jeremy doesn’t push Jean but doesn’t let him get away with his old methods of self-comfort.  There is a lot of work for Jean to do as far as getting fid of the Raven mentality/lifestyle but it’s so nice to see the start of healing with the shit hand of life he was dealt.  All the moments were Cat was teaching Jean how to cook and the forehead kisses were everything.  And Wymack being the stubborn person he can be, helping Jean while he recovers, like bro—I love Wymack so much 😭 he treated Jean as if he were one of his foxes.

Kevin being called out for his fanboy behavior for the USC Trojans had be laughing so much.  Neil being an absolute icon with his attitude problem still intact, and his ability to be a little shit to all authority figures was hilarious to read.  I was also really happy about Jean and Renee’s friendship, it was perfect.

Overall, I adored this book.  Reading about all the old characters again was so nice and the new characters were wonderful (a few got what they deserved, they know who they are) but USC is going to be a wonderful place to Jean to get the life he finally deserves.  And I’m so happy for him.

Spice Level: n/a
Angst Level: 💧💧💧💧💧 (5/5)
POV: Duel, Third Person
Release Date: 13, April 2024
Rep: Bisexual(Main Character), Gay, Queer (Main and Side Characters), Lesbian (Side Characters), Trans (Side Character), Non-Binary (Side Character), Poly (Side Characters), LGBTQIA+ (Main and Side Characters, BIPOC (Side Characters)

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