Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Una última parada by Casey McQuiston

35 reviews

rainbowrocky's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious 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

4.0

My final thoughts on the book are: fun concept, cute characters, dull execution. The beginning was soooo slow but the ending was really good. It took me a year to read this and usually that’s not a good sign for me lol. I feel like I knew the friends better than the love interest August is supposedly bending space and time for to be in love with. Don’t get me wrong, I love found family and I enjoyed seeing them interact, but shouldn’t we know more about Jane? Like we find out about her past, but as a person her character fell a little flat for me. And I found August’s hero complex a touch annoying and fell into the white savior trope a little too hard. I also didn’t care for the “save the diner” side plot (you mean to tell me August is suddenly sad for a place she barely shows up to for work?), but the “find her uncle that’s been missing since the 70s” side plot worked really well for both August’s narrative and Jane’s. I enjoyed McQuiston’s lyrical writing style, especially for the spicy scenes, and how they do dialogue. Overall 4/5 stars. Probably won’t ever read again but I will keep my book cause it’s cute.

Edit: You know what I think this novel needs? Jane's POV. If we had a dual POV with Jane and August, I think it would have been so much better. We could have seen her flashbacks instead of just being told about them through August's eyes. That would have been so much better and maybe getting her inner thoughts about how she feels about August wouldn't make the romance so one-sided for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, Confinement, Child abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Cursing, Hate crime, and Racism

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

isabelindia's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

Loved the book, at some point i thought it was a bit slow, and i wasn't even halfway HOWEVER the second half of the book was better, and i couldn't be happier i finished this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Homophobia, and Sexual content

kappafrog's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

I really loved this book. The writing was great, the cast of characters sparkled off the page, and the mysteries were really fun with a slow build to unraveling them all. I loved the steamy romance. This book made me feel more confident as a queer woman. It made it easier to imagine a community and I loved the found family. I was totally absorbed while I was reading it and while I had a few quibbles, overall I found it a wonderful world to escape into with a fresh and fun concept.

Edit: dropping my review from 4.5 to 4. When the excitement of being in the story has worn off I have a few more criticisms of some of the racial dynamics in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Classism, Drug use, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Grief, Death, Hate crime, Police brutality, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death of parent, Blood, Vomit, and Misogyny

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

A very sweet love story about young New York disaster queers. The dialogue sparkles; the characters are interesting and well-drawn; and I personally appreciate how much is happening in most of the characters' lives: even the romantic leads have more going on than just dealing with their love lives.

A lot of things about the book don't stand up to Fridge Logic. You sort of accept them as you read, but the instant you put the book down and start doing something else, your brain tells you all the things that don't make sense about what you've just read. Initially I found this incredibly annoying. After a while, though, the story became so engrossing that I stopped noticing. But those things are definitely still there, so caveat lector if that'll bug you no matter how sweet the love story is.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Death, Alcohol, Sexual content, Racism, Lesbophobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Blood, Police brutality, and Car accident

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Racism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Vomit, Blood, Car accident, Alcoholism, Grief, Classism, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Biphobia

rachelelouise's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious relaxing 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

I LOVED this book. If you like Casey McQuiston’s other books you’ll like this, but I thought it was even better than Red, White, and Royal Blue. I found it to be much more real and compelling, and the characters were much more relatable to me: they’re capital Q Queer, they’re radicals, they’re service workers, they have mom trauma, etc. This book made me swoon, laugh, cry, and long to go to a drag show.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Police brutality, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Car accident, Cursing, Death, and Racism

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? No

5.0

As always i bloody adore this book to pieces.  This is my first re read and I was actually annotating my copy for a very special girl I hope to gift it too when I see them. 

It made me have all the feels. The queer joy.  The love.  It’s like a hug and a breathe of fresh air at the same time. Even when it’s tense.  I adore this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Cursing, Police brutality, Abandonment, Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Racism

kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Mental illness, Hate crime, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racism, Transphobia, Police brutality, Homophobia, and Blood

semi-public sex, exploration of depression and anxiety, memory loss and cognitive issues, familial estrangement, familial death, missing persons, implied PTSD, Homophobic violence and hate speech, the AIDS crisis, childhood neglect, arson

bkahmann's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Death, and Racism

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Blood, and Hate crime

applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

A New Girl vibe + A Schitt's Creek cast + Lesbians = one happy reader. I grinned, giggled, laughed out loud, and stifled reactions in public because of this book. I felt some type of way about reading certain scenes at work and kept reading anyway because I was not hitting pause on this story for love or money. Pancake Billy's House of Pancakes was a magical setting with a feeling that I can only dream of transposing onto my own stories, and the characters were either helplessly lovable or comically despisable.

The ending felt a bit self-indulgent, but I'm willing to let that slide because of how enjoyable the whole reading experience was.

This was an incredible world to get lost in, especially during Pride month. I'm glad to have spent time in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Mental illness, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, and Hate crime

Minor: Death, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria