Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert

17 reviews

cosypuck's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

semeyers's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.75

Really enjoyed this one, honestly. I loved the dry humor and the exploration of a toxic friendship. Kind of went off the rails a little bit at the end and leaned into the full supernatural, which I wasn't expecting and did drag it down a little bit. But the very tame, very high school appropriate romance was so cute.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Self harm and Alcohol

sophia_pearl's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Stalking

taranim's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I reviewed this book for Paper Lanterns for Issue 14! Full review at the link below:

https://paperlanternslit.com/the-bad-ones-by-melissa-albert-review/ 

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An enjoyable read that was quick but still managed to have a main cast full of fleshed out characters. I wished we had seen more of the aftermath but I liked the way it wrapped up for the most part.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Alcohol

bridget_magpie's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

This is such a strong 4 stars book, I will give it a 4.25 instead. The writing is amazing, Melissa Albert is clearly crazy talented, this book makes me want to check out her other works. 
The characters are so well written half of the time I was conflicted if

Becca is a good person or an antagonist because of her toxic and manipulative behaviour presented a few times in the story.

The ending was good enough for a small town mystery novel, I just didn’t like how

little we got of what happened after. Nora’s other friends didn’t even show up at the end, not even mentioned which I though was unfortunate.

But all in all I really enjoyed this book and I devoured it as fast as I could. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, and Gore

spadefootfrog's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

Moderate: Self harm, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Alcohol

kittykatruin's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sare1125's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Violence, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying

arrr's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

This book does such a good job of accessing that transitional period between magical thinking and growing up. Explores topics of trust, honesty, consequences, vengeance, justice, and friendship. Empowered young women and supportive peer groups. A few queer characters. Good example of kind masculinity. Good examples of how young people can process and cope with the actions of the "bad ones" while being true to themselves and maintaining their power. 

Best friends play the bad kid version of the goddess game and unlock an old mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sonygaystation's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was kinda messy but in  way I enjoyed! The time jumps were a little jarring with the perspective changes but once I got the handle of it (I listened rather than read the book) I could go with the flow better. I think there could’ve been more room for character development with the side characters because I enjoyed them and would’ve liked to see them more. I think James literally just served as a love interest (which I don’t dislike because lorde knows so many writers dump women in their novels as side characters just to serve as the MC’s LI) and I wish his role in things was a little more prevalent. I did really enjoy Nora’s extracurricular scenes because I really liked Ruth! With Becca, there was one line Nora’s sister said where it was made pretty clear Becca isn’t seen as good for Nora and (alongside a convo with Nora’s mom) implied that Becca’s too overprotective of Nora to the point that keeps Nora from making other friends. That felt like a big theme to have but it didn’t really go anywhere? Like all we see of their relationship is from Nora’s perspective but she spends 80% of the book only referring to their falling out and we only hear about the good parts really as they were when they were kids so that felt off. But! I had a good time and I’d read it again for sure!! I’m also happy it ended the way it did because Nora deserved some good things coming her way 🫶

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Alcohol