Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell

12 reviews

asahome's review

3.75

TL;DR: A young woman must put aside her personal feelings in order to learn to control her magic. A new teacher helps her learn that Elsa (from Frozen) has a better way of dealing with her emotions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Medical content, Ableism, Mental illness, and Addiction

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death of parent, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual content

Ableism:

the people in charge of the healers sect are unwilling to help people suffering from depression and anxiety and are unwilling to recognize it as a problem

Medical Content:

the main characters are healers, they deal with all things medical

Death of Parent, Vomit:

the parent vomits flower petals and there is a worry it will kill him

Warnings from the Inside Cover: absent parent, anxiety and depression, body horror, emesis, fantasy substance abuse, medical issues, non-consensual enchantment

brindlecat's review

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, and Drug use

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Moderate: Vomit, Body horror, and Mental illness

Minor: Drug use, Abandonment, Medical content, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, and Bullying

mimmixoxo's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

3.75

I do agree with a lot of the comments that it feels as if something is missing or the end is underdeveloped especially with Clara’s mother. Overall a fun and quick read that helped me through my latest reading slump. (Although be wary of content warnings)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Vomit, and Chronic illness

dogoodwithbooks's review

I liked it, but I just wasn’t in the mood for it. Maybe I’ll come back to it again 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Medical content

Moderate: Abandonment

sol_journal's review

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Posted to: Goodreads and The StoryGraph

Posted on: 7 September 2023

3.8 (rounded up to 4) out of 5 stars.

This was such a cute read! Catherine Bakewell described this as being the ‘book of her heart’ in the FaeCrate letter and honestly- it was such a loving novel with kind words tucked between each page. This book has a lot of low reviews for the reason of it being compared to ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ a lot. I have the bad habit of holding books to other book expectations as well, but I’ve been trying to get better at not doing that. So taking Howl’s off the mind while reading this, you get a little comfort story about a girl just trying to heal and find kindness in a world that hasn’t exactly been very kind to her.

The magic system is very simple and basic. There’s no need to understand how the ins and the outs of it work to a T. It just *is* the way things here are working- every witch having a different specialty, how the Council is the commanding order here. There were a few loosely tied connections and pieces of the story that didn’t fit quite seamlessly in as it could have been done though.

Character wise, it was okay too. If you see yourself in the always anxious, always nervous Clara, then the characters will easily find a home in your heart. If you aren’t as insecure or shy, then it may be a bit harder to find that connection because Clara’s story is based on this insecurity of her magic and herself. Her story is built on the solid support and love from her father, and how she’s desperate to fix it after accidentally placing a curse upon him. This story also features a plus-size main character, a hispanic character, and just the bundle of depression and anxiety that even the kindest of hearts can hold. This book was certainly a love-letter into healing oneself and finding oneself done in a way that could be reminiscent to Ghibli movies with its style and prose. But again, if you can’t really relate/see this and feel this, it’s a lot harder to enjoy the book.

The writing style wasn’t my favorite, but it was nice! It read a bit simpler, but I also wouldn’t entirely knock it down to middle grade/younger YA level just because of it. Again, this is a nice and easy read because it’s not so fleshed out and detailed, it makes it almost a comfort novel when you need a pick-me-up.

All in all, I can see how others weren’t entirely happy with ‘Flowerheart’. I think there was too much a standard held up to it to be just like Howl’s Moving Castle- or other Ghibli movies/inspired books in general that when it fell a little short, people were too critical against it. Catherine Bakewell delivers a beautiful novel about simply quelling that angry little voice in your head that likes to tell you doubts over and over. It’s a beautiful novel about friendship, parental love, and just feeling comfortable in one’s own skin! I totally accidentally skipped over the content warnings for this book though, but that was entirely a self-fault. The book in its entirety beyond that little scene that threw me off was like finding acceptance and self- it’s not too often that plus-sized main characters are featured in fantasy novels so it was certainly a taste of home that made me love this book all the more.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror and Medical content

49moths's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

flowers!!!!!!! and magic!!!  i loved it, comfort book fr :((( /pos ALSO THE COVER ART!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Medical content

body horror’s limited to flowers growing in skin which isnt too bad, i just get uncomfortable easily with anything like this

libriinks's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical content, Body horror, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

blacksphinx's review

hopeful lighthearted 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

3.0

This book is a puff of cotton candy. Light, sugary, quickly consumed.

This book has a strong "fanfic author's first original fic" vibe. There is very little world building in this novel, and things you might think warrant an explanation (like the magic system) are glossed over, like we're already supposed to know. It's partially centered around a variation on a fanfic trope - hanahaki disease - and there's a small scene lifted directly from Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle movie. In fact, our protagonist's two-syllable name, her light blue and light green dresses, her long hair plaited into a braid, and our wizard love interest's black hair kept me wondering... If this started life as a HMC's fanfic I would not be surprised. 

Overall, this is a book that comfortably fits in the YA section and would probably be a delight in most middle school or high school libraries. (This book also needs an LGBT+ tag on here, it's a queernormative setting.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Mental illness

I want to list a brief content warning for an emotionally abusive relationship between

a father and a son

culminating in

the child being disowned and kicked out

. The situation is quickly resolved, but I figured if vulnerable (especially queer) teens are reading this book it was worth a mention.

nutmegandpumpkin's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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

5.0

A cozy fantasy that still has stakes and dark moments perfect for spring (also it gives off major Ghibli vibes which is always a plus)
✿
Overview
Writing Quality: 5/5
Pace: 4/5
Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 5/5
Description: 5/5
Ease of Reading: 5/5
Ending: 5/5
Personal Enjoyment: 5/5
✿

Something about this book emanated comfort for me. It felt like going outside after too much time spent inside, feeling the sun on your face and taking a deep inhale. I’d also like to add that the description was ✨scrumdiliumcious✨  

I was immediately into the story from the start which is very rare for me. There were a lot of aspects to the story that I was pleasantly surprised by such as a sensitive & nervous male love interest, a plus-sized bi main character, and mental health rep through the magic.

I would classify it as a cozy fantasy that still has stakes and dark moments. The entire time I was reading it I imagined that it took place in the same universe as Howl’s Moving Castle. 

I think that this book is not everyone’s cup of tea, but based on the lower rated reviews I’ve seen, most of them are due to expectations being largely different from the reality of what this book is. It is not a fantasy story that dives deep into worldbuilding, characters, or a complex plot. This is not to say these things don’t exist, they’re just much more subtle and Bakewell allows things to be left unsaid. 

I found it to be a great light read that doesn’t get bogged down by larger-than-life concepts while still having an enjoyable plot.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Body horror, Mental illness, and Vomit

Minor: Drug abuse, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury