Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Dear Ava by Ilsa Madden-Mills

29 reviews

culzean's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Abandonment, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

sam019's review

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

am193's review

emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

So this book isn’t “good” when you look at it from a literature point of view. The dialogue is pretty terrible, the plot is clunky, and it’s generally a bit cringeworthy. But it’s a book you can read and enjoy almost as a palate cleanser. It’s enjoyable in the same way as fanfiction on Wattpad or AO3. Lots of potentially triggering content though so check content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug abuse and Alcoholism

Minor: Bullying and Violence

Very casual treatment of sexual violence - Ava’s rape was treated as a plot device without thought of realistic affects on the character.

ecravens's review

challenging emotional funny reflective sad slow-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: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

alexiaalves's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, and Drug abuse

hannahlee98's review

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

kaileyn's review

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Drug abuse, Rape, and Alcoholism

lilli0311's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Addiction, Violence, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Suicide, Rape, Mental illness, and Child abuse

daijahsbookworld's review

5.0

December 2021
okay ik this book is so angsty and dramatic and messy but it resonates with my angsty, dramatic, messy soul consistently

July 2021
Read for Tarot Readathon 2021: Queen of Wands

This book was just perfection and I just adored the characters and the themes throughout it. It made me so emotional and for being a high school romance, I feel like it dealt with everything perfectly. The end also was written so well and I just loved every moment of it. I couldn't put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicide

marie_thereadingotter's review

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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

3.75

I've had this book on my radar for a while, I've heard some very good things about it, and when I saw it on sale through Kindle, I picked it up.
   I can see, to a point, where the good things come from. A girl who doesn't "let" trauma control her. I can see how that would offer praise. But, at the same time, I can see how this could be slightly offensive to people who've lived that trauma. It's a nice message, but I don't think it was handled as well as it could have been. Especially with how quickly she was able to be intimate with someone else. I know healing is different for everybody but I also think that it should have been handled differently.
   I liked the dual narrative, but I think it left the reveal of the secret admirer less mysterious. Though I don't think that was really anything more than a MacGuffin in the first place. It wasn't supposed to be a mystery, but then I wonder what the point was. 
   I liked how things were handled when it came out who did the crime, and how the characters made mature decisions. I dislike how in a lot of these books when things like this happen, the characters "deal with it themselves" when a crime is committed, rather than going to the cops the way they should. And they went to the cops and handled it the way it should be. 
   I liked that Ava and Lee took time apart after everything as well, it helped them both find their feet so to speak. But I wish Ava had a POV epilogue. It felt like after everything it was more about Lee than Ava.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Bullying