Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Act Cool by Tobly McSmith

45 reviews

aimzthereader's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Outing and Alcohol

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Abandonment

allena_inwonderland's review

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-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? Yes

4.0

3.5 ⭐️

August Greene is a teen trans boy who runs away from home because his parents don’t accept him being trans. He ends up in NYC at an audition for a prestigious performing arts school and staying with his aunt Lil when he gets in.
This journey is about August finding his way through navigating who he is, and not who he “has to be”. Acting his whole life by being the ‘roles’ his parents needed or what he thought his friends and peers wanted. August gets caught up in that imagine and forgets his truth and who he is. This is a coming of age story, with a found family trope. I enjoyed the the relatable parts with parents & August learning he can be himself and people will still love him for him. Learning to accept your family not loving you for who you are is so painful; and I feel like the author gives us a nice reminder that we aren’t alone.
There are times where August can be a little self absorbed when fame goes to his head lol. But thankfully that does get addressed haha.
Overall I enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Suicidal thoughts

jbarry9815's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Suicidal thoughts

guthr13's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? N/A

3.5

I love that this book was about a trans teenager who gets a happy ending and learns to overcome his transphobic parents as he found his own chosen family that accepted him. I wish this book was available when I was a young teenager struggling with my trans identity 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

seaweedbrain11's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

There is so much diversity in this book and it is super sweet

I love when the aunt comes out as gay and then she tells August's parents

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

thatbookwhisperer's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Transphobia and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia and Deadnaming

stiino19's review

emotional inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Transphobia

imstephtacular's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Homophobia, Grief, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Cursing, Mental illness, and Outing

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Alcohol, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Sexual content

nibs's review

dark emotional hopeful medium-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

3.75

A nice, heartfelt YA story. August is like any other teenager in that he's a bit all over the place identity-wise and winging it. Making friends, crushing on girls, I like how fleshed out the high school social dynamics were (even if some of the characters themselves didn't feel as fleshed out as they could've been). 
I bumped it down from 4 to 3.75 stars based on how rushed the ending felt. 

The other thing that I really noticed compared to some other YA books with trans protagonists is the lack of intersectional nuance. Yes, I know August is naive, but there is white privilege evident in the writing through. Only the Black characters had their race specifically mentioned, all other characters being assumed to be white in the lack of this descriptor and whiteness was only used as a descriptor in the same paragraph as a Black character was. Given a big part of this book is set in New York, a very multi-cultural place, and the story skimmed over the nuances of this. Maybe I'm just a bit critical given how well handled this is by the likes of Kacen Callender, NoNieqa Ramos, Isaac Fitzsimons, etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Homophobia and Deadnaming

Conversion therapy - a character's family plans to send them to conversion therapy, and later a play is staged about conversion therapy.

aelis_'s review

emotional

• 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide