Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

11 reviews

tilder's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

Queer and heartwrenching. Got lost in some of the characters sometimes, felt like some of them could have been more fleshed out. Appreciated the ending and sense of closure for both of them. However, I do think that Sara’s trauma was resolved a bit too quickly, the whole reveal felt rushed and I wish we could have had more tension build up or something to complement the beginning of the book in the same way. Great read and look forward to LaCour’s other work!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Child death, Abandonment, Drug use, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Addiction, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Medical trauma

ohmygoshtosh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Sexual content, Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Racism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

baguettegay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

I loved the complexity of both of these main characters and how, in each of their own ways, they knew exactly how to be there for the other even when it was something indicated. Yes, it is a love story but it is also so much more than that. It is platonic love. It is love within your family, against all odds. It is the love of the people you grew up alongside. It is everything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Sexual content, and Mental illness

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Death of parent, Mental illness, Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Sexual content, Trafficking, Vomit, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, and Racism

Minor: Violence, Confinement, and War

annabulkowski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Toxic relationship, Child death, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

blackcatkai's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

3.5

CW: death, implied-suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, overdose, rape, underage sex work (mentioned), cheating, grief, mental illness, trauma

This was a pretty great start to LaCour's entry into the adult fiction world. It does cover a lot of heavy topics, so take any content/trigger warnings seriously before diving in. With the way the blurb sounded, I DID think it'd be a little more focused on the two MC's coming together than it actually was.

This is mainly a contemporary literary fiction novel about two women's lives and the trauma & experiences they go through throughout their lives before those lives intersect. it touches on them together in a couple points (similar to Normal People by Sally Rooney), but it focuses a lot more on their individual events without each other. I found the pacing in the middle to be a bit slow, but it had a strong beginning and ending and I ultimately was rooting for them.

I hope LaCour continues to dive into the adult fiction world, I will absolutely continue reading her work. I was just expecting a little more here & was honestly a bit confused in points.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Mental illness

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism

lacey_wi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Murder, Sexual assault, Rape, Cancer, Abandonment, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Homophobia and Dementia

jjreads331's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

2.0

The blurb on the cover called this "A love story for our times." I don't think that kind of lead in could be more misleading. I'm mad the cover is so beautiful since the book was deeply mid for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Child death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Blood

voidboi's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Rape, Pedophilia, and Infidelity

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Sexual content

thisbookrox's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief

Minor: Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, and War