Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

O princípio do coração by Helen Hoang

19 reviews

ghostsversion's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned the fact that I wasn’t 100% emotionally invested in the previous one. I feel like Mrs heard me and was like “Oh really? Well here’s an entire book about two people pleasers falling in love and also about how tiring it is to try and be what others want you to be.” Like, ma’am, I’m already dead, stop stomping on me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Moderate: Vomit, Ableism, and Suicidal thoughts

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

emotional hopeful relaxing 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Ableism, Alcohol, Grief, and Sexual content

viireads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, and Blood

amissabellator's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Grief, Ableism, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, and Medical content

The text follows Anna Sun - a woman who is diagnosed with autism with low-support needs - (and, to a lesser extent, Quan Diep - a man who has recently overcome personal illness (

testicular cancer

)) as they fall in love. This includes graphic depictions of sex and sex acts, in line with the previous installments in the series. However, this story also includes a family medical emergency storyline (

father is rendered immobile and requires full-care after a stroke

) and goes into detail about burnout, toxic families, and mental health struggles. It also talks about expectations, both physically (

Quan suffers anxiety about his genitals following his cancer surgeries

) and emotionally (

Anna is repeatedly misled/gaslighted about her life and her autism symptoms

).

zoiejanelle's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

(listened to audio book from library)

REVIEW TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE READING THIS BOOK! 

i devoured this book. i was up until 3am reading this and good LORD was it worth it. 

i would definitely classify this as contemporary fiction and not a romance because the main focal point was Anna’s struggle to accept and honor herself, not the love story. though i liked the love story—which added fantastic levity to the serious topics presented here despite also being pretty rocky—i was completely sold by Anna’s arc: her diagnosis, accepting a caretaker role, the epiphany about her needs, her growth. 

once again, Helen Hoang perfectly captures the neurodivergent experience. Anna’s relationship with her family, her friends, herself, and her art were so relatable and heart-wrenching. i can only describe my feelings/reactions towards the ongoing conflicts related to her autism as VISCERAL. chapter 41 literally caused me to sob into a pillow. i am not kidding. i had to try very hard to stifle my weeping. 

the ending, though extremely fast-paced was satisfying and realistic. i appreciated that, unlike The Bride Test, not every plot point received a sparkly, happy conclusion. grief and healing are not linear, and it makes sense that Anna‘s experiences with them were not either. 

i will admit, criticisms of Quan’s story are valid. though i liked that his chapters were brief, i would happily read an entire novel about his journey surviving cancer. i did not feel like his POV was needed at times, which led me to want his storyline to be fleshed out more, to be more on par with the tone and severity of Anna’s. i think each arc could have better paralleled the other and his story could have had a stronger impact. maybe Anna’s story was heavy enough and Helen Hoang felt the need to write something lighter to help the reader escape that darkness, but i think it still could have worked. 

wrt the sex scenes: this book was much steamier and more satisfying (wink wonk) than The Bride Test. it also showed realistic sexual dysfunction and healthy communication of boundaries/needs. i liked the pining as much as i liked the sex scenes themselves, and i never turned the page and felt let down or disappointed by how the scenes ended. they all tended to make sense and feel complete. 

overall this was a fantastic, quick read that i recommend to nd romance readers looking to see and authentic story in a new genre. 

CW (not included below): autism meltdown, autism burnout, career burnout/career issues

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Ableism, Grief, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Cancer

Minor: Cursing, Car accident, Excrement, Xenophobia, and Vomit

inthemoonforcheese's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Ableism, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

embla_v's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful

3.5

Tredje delen i serien av Helen Hoang. 

Anna blev känd över en natt när ett youtube klipp av henne som spelar violin blev viralt. Men efter det så har hon kämpat med att hitta glädjen i musiken igen och nu vill hennes pojkvän öppna upp deras förhållande. Anna är förkrossad och vill få hämd men vad kan hon göra? Jo, hon kan också ligga med andra. 

Quan (bikaraktär i tidigare böcker i serien) har varit sjuk och ska nu ut i dejting livet igen och då träffar han Anna. Men när Annas familj drabbas av en tragedi ställs allt på ända och de måste kämpa för sin kärlek men också för sig själva. 

En berättelse i stil med tidigare böcker i serien. Jag rekommenderar att läsa de två andra böckerna först och sedan denna. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Ableism

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Cancer, Death, and Infertility

peachani's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Grief, Medical content, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Infertility, and Suicidal thoughts

0701mango's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

This was a really touching book about family, love, and life. Both Anna and Quan are unique and lovable in their own ways. They are so different and Helen Hoang makes their chemistry work. I also appreciate Hoang writing main characters on the autism spectrum.

Though it saddened me, I appreciate that Hoang left Anna and Priscilla's relationship at the end unresolved. Sometimes this kind of thing never resolves, or if it does, it happens over a decade or more. A bit sad, but realistic all the same, and something to appreciate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cursing, Mental illness, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Medical content, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Infertility, Death, and Grief

The female lead has autism spectrum disorder and her characteristics relating to that are described in detail. The main character also goes to therapy. A significant time in the book is spent on discussions of medical illness and chronic/terminal illness. I believe "toxic relationship" is an appropriate tag for describing the relationship between Anna and her sister Priscilla.

kdailyreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Sexual content, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcohol, Ableism, and Infertility