Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Some Girls Do

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan

11 reviews

tetedump's review against another edition

the relationship... felt too close to not consensual for me to be comfortable. Neither of them were acting in what I felt were their best interests 😂 and I wanted a cute gay romance book, not a really messy walking-the-line-of-toxic-relationship book.

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letters_from_gabriella's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

4.75

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bek_p87's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring slow-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

4.5

This book hit me smack-bang right in the middle of my heart. I loved that it wasn't just a cheesy clichéd teen romance (which, don't get me wrong, I also love), but that it dealt with real issues and the struggles of figuring out your sexuality in an unsupportive environment. Ruby and Morgan growing and making compromises for one another is realistic and beautiful.

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hannadb's review

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emotional medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

Unfortunately, I did not like this book as much as I thought I would when I started reading it.
The beginning is great, sort of enemies to lovers, interesting characters, interesting back stories.
But then both main characters started being dislikeable. I know the point probably was to emphasise their flaws but the extent of their behaviour was not relatable to me and not even the end of the book could compensate that.
Spoilers:

I was really bothered by the way Morgan only saw herself as a victim. She continuously talks about her wanting to make a change and helf other people but at the same time she expects everybody else to give up a lot for her. What happened to her was bad but she really only saw situations from her eyes and never even tried viewing them from other perspectives. And I'm not only talking about her and Ruby, it also happened between her and her parents. She seemed kind of ungrateful even though they did everything for her.

Also, a thing I really disliked about Ruby was that she didn't respect boundaries and just tried to kiss and make out with Morgan whenever she felt like it and whenever they had a difficult talk. And her thoughts would be something like "why do I need to tell her I like her if I can show it to her by kissing her?". Excuse me but if somebody is crying because you hurt them you don't try to kiss them in that moment wtf. She also tried to push Morgan to have sex more than once even though Morgan wanted to wait. For her, sex didn't mean much but she didn't even try to understand that that was not the same for Morgan.
I did feel bad for her because of her horrible mother.

Anyways, I really liked the characters and the story in the beginning, but the closer they got, the worse they became. I get that J. Dugan was trying to show their flaws and how they overcame their issues together, but it just made the characters walking red flags in many ways.

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miyothecat's review

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tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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rose_reads_'s review against another edition

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adventurous funny inspiring 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

4.75

An enjoyable fluffy quick read that touches on some deeper moments. If you enjoyed Heartstopper, I would recommend this but do check the TWs first. I can't wait to read more of Dugans books!

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hippiequeen's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

3.5

I think the characters of this novel are a little flat; it wasn’t immediate as the reader to fall in love with them as the protagonists seem to do as soon as they lay eyes on each other. I wish they had more moments and conversations courting each other rather than fighting over coming out or their approach to romance. Not a bad novel, but not the best YA lesbian romcom I’ve read either.

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iksme's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing 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? It's complicated

3.75

I love this book Morgan is such a dense idiot though, and I found it unlikely that such an active lesbian in the community would even consider

outing someone and would definitely consider that they don't want to come out to a unaccepting mother.

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amandalorianxo's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

2.0

Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan is fitting (in my opinion) for mostly a middle, high or even college aged group, particularly if you are looking for books with characters who are trying to make their voices heard in a society where LGBTQ+ voices are forced into a soft mute. One of the mc’s is a lesbian and another is queer but doesn’t have a specific label. Morgan Matthews moves to a somewhat small area during the last leg of her senior year. She’s comfortable in identifying as a lesbian and her private school didn’t exactly see eye to eye with her sexuality. Morgan meets Ruby, a girl who is coated with rumors about being trash, hookups only and untrustworthy, despite very people actually being in her circle. When the girls get close, a lot of feelings surface, some Ruby’s been forced to hide while Morgan wants to be open. I did enjoy the fact that Morgan & Ruby learn a lot not just about one another but the harsh reality that not identifying as straight in a predominantly white neighborhood can still have consequences that skin color can’t protect. I loved the glimpses we were given when it came to Morgan being a distance runner (I am too & I coach distance at my school) & Ruby fixing cars. The side characters were well rounded enough to pique my interest although I wish the diversity wasn’t secluded to just them. I think my main let down was, the situations the duo find themselves are mostly due to poor conversations and coping skills that aren’t portrayed in a healthy way.

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kostkova_barca's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

2.5

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