Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

14 reviews

hannah2896's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A quick read - tragic in parts, very cringey in others. Dark themes and not exactly a literary masterpiece, but it kept me hooked enough to continue reading the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Rape, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Car accident, Alcohol, Homophobia, Death of parent, Incest, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual assault

xgabrielle_hx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Blood, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

tish12's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

I went in a but hesitant for this one not sure why. Cause I absolutely loved it. 
It began off slow and I was almost like , this is not for me and was finding it a bit on the boring side but I pushed through and glad I did as it picked up and  BOOM! . I was hooked. 
Very intense, I wanted to know more about Sky and her life what happened, how did this lead to that etc. And those reveals at the end omg. 
But my heart broke a couple of times and I just felt heavy. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Grief, Mental illness, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Abandonment, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual assault

gigi43's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Death of parent

fink1129's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Incest, Rape, Suicide, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia

blynn343's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Incest, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Rape

issibelle's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Grief, Incest, Death of parent, Death, Kidnapping, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Rape, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Violence

xlaraxk's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.0

I wanted to read one of Colleen Hoover's book to see what the hype is all about. Unfortunately, I really cannot understand why people would want to read this. This book has just so many issues and was just not sexy or romantic at any point.

The writing: The writing in this book was so bland. Nothing about it was clever or original or showed linguistic talent. Any AO3 or Wattpad writer could do better than this. CoHo really tries to hammer the youthfulness of the characters home by constantly using the phrase "xy sucks ass", "this sucks ass", "he sucks ass" etc. To introduce direct speech she constantly uses "he/she says" so it gets repetitive easily. The comparisons she makes are also strange and could even be considered offensive (e.g." He looked at me like I just said I have a penis").  All in all, the writing was not the worst thing I ever read but just straight up boring - something you will have read a hundred times by now.

The characters: Again, just bland. I could not tell you anything about the main character Sky or Holder in regards to their personality. They all have one character trait only - Holder is "misunderstood", Sky likes to read and that's about it. I do not even understand  why they liked each other in the first place

apart from knowing each other from childhood

. Her mum's only distinctive traits is that she's a vegan and that she does not like technology, nothing more.

The problematic aspects: Oh, there are so many. 

• This book depicts queer, especially gay people, so stereotypically. Colleen Hoover wants to tell us how much of an ally both Holder and Sky are yet to fail to see Sky's friend as anything more than his personality. We've all seen some rendition of "the extroverted quirky gay best friend" in a book or a film - again, nothing original about it.  I'm really sick of seeing this stereotype being brought up over and over again.
• Sky has so much internalised misogyny. Her only issue seems to constantly tell the read that she, in fact, is not a slut. The "slut" topic plays a big part in the beginning of the book and then weirdly is never brought up again later. But in any case, she tries to "not be like other girls" by calling other girls either a slut, stupid or manipulative. 
• Holder does not know about consent. There are some scenes where Sky is clearly uncomfortable with their physical intimacy (at one point she even tells him no "forcefully") but he keeps on pressuring her. He's emotionally manipulative and that's not romantic or cute in any way. 
• Just the plot in general. There is some serious trauma going on but it is "fixed" by a romantic relationship. That's just not what you should convey to a young audience. If you really want to read this book, please make sure to take a look at the trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Suicide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence

Minor: Transphobia

josefinemartensson's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Suicide

emval2004's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicide