Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

189 reviews

shivy03's review

3.0

funny inspiring lighthearted 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

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I would highly recommend this to a young teenager, but I feel like I am a bit out of the age range of this book. I don’t like a lot of order social media references in a story but that just a personal preference. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Outing

therewillbenewsuns's review

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Deportation

bookish_perseus's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation

Minor: Body shaming, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation

peach_haze's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol

Minor: Self harm

callme_tippy's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative 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: No

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This is the type of Young Adult fiction I like! 

This book has actually renewed my faith in YA fiction. I used to really like YA fiction in high school and I assumed I just stopped liking it, but this book has renewed my faith in the genre. 

Turns out I don't hate YA, I just hate a lot YA books. But it is good to know that good YA still exists! 

Thank you  Sonora Reyes for renewing my hope in finding YA books that I will enjoy 😭.

I loved Yami, Bo, Cesar, and Jamal (I read this via audio so some of these might be spelled wrong). 
I liked the realistic approach to family relationships and dynamics. I think this handled and portrayed a hard situations in a believable and well rounded way. 

I think Yami's relationships with her mother, brother, and father, were representative, real, and human. 

I loved every part of this book, would recommend! 

**adds Sonora Reyes back log to my tbr**

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Classism, Deportation

mav_tea's review against another edition

4.0

funny hopeful lighthearted 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Racism

maria_y's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation

joslynhebda's review

4.75

emotional funny hopeful 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: No

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt

fearlessfictionalfemme's review

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book held so many emotions but still overflowed with queer joy. Reyes captured the rawness of feeling alone, fearing your family’s reaction, actually facing rejection, and trying to find acceptance anyway. It covered suicidal thoughts, gay panic, new friendships, the heartbreak of losing them, and the warmth of parents who truly accept you. That part reminded me of my own family and made my heart so full.

I loved Yami and Caesar’s sibling relationship and how much closer they grow when they share their truth with each other. I want to keep that part vague to avoid spoilers, but it made me so emotional. Bo is such an authentic character, and seeing her live so honestly pushes Yami to imagine she can be just as brave. My favorite moment was when Yami spent the holidays with Bo and her parents. Bo’s family reminded me of mine and the love they showed Yami felt so genuine and healing.

Some parts were painfully relatable. The rejection from family hit home for me, and the way Caesar’s situation made Yami question how well she really knew him felt so raw. I don’t know if I tapped back into my own teen angst or just related too much as a lesbian, but the way Yami’s mom treats her really got to me. Especially the way her mom tries to blame her for what happened to Caesar. I’m glad her mom comes around in the end, but I felt like the lack of real accountability was missing something for me. Yami is so ready to forgive because her mom finally accepts her, but I wish there was more reflection on that hurt.

The ending was incredible. At first I wanted the mean girls (Emily, Karen, and Jenna) to maybe change, but I’m glad it didn’t go that way. It felt more real. For most of the book I was convinced Jenna had a crush on Bo, which might have been implied or maybe I just read it that way, but either way it was so relatable. This story was messy and joyful and real. I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Lesbophobia

Moderate: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Outing

Minor: Cultural appropriation

sweetsanchia's review

5.0

emotional funny reflective tense 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Outing, Deportation