Scan barcode
ohmygoshtosh's review against another edition
- 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
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
littki's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Grief, and Rape
Moderate: Cancer, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Death, Toxic relationship, and Terminal illness
Minor: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, Car accident, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail
garciaga's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Maybe the problem is that I was expecting a different kind of book. I was also not a fan of the love story, since it takes them half the book to actually meet and then they fall in love instantly. Where's the pinning? Where's the yearning? Where's the idea that love is something that you build and strengthen through time?
Anyway. At least the writing style was beautiful.
Graphic: Addiction and Drug use
Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual violence
Minor: Cancer
cheye13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
And it's not strictly a romance, so it makes sense the story focused more on other elements of both women's journeys, but I didn't feel a connection between them at all. It read as though they were the only queer women in the vicinity (i.e. in the book), so they may as well date.
It was a decent story, and very well written, but I didn't find that it offered anything exceptionally unique.
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Infidelity
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Addiction, and Child death
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, and Pedophilia
two underage characters perform sex acts for money mostly off-page; an underage girl seriously considers sex work for a timesmlemire's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
As I sit here, it's just before 6 am. I finished Yerba Buena last night around 11 and went to bed knowing I wasn't done experiencing the book for the first time yet. I have so much to say and yet everything I'm going to say I know Nina Lacour already knows.
Nina always makes me feel some type of way about Los Angeles, Iike it's my home I've been away from for a decade, and like l'm finally coming home and everything is different and better yet somehow the same and worse. And I've never even been to California before. She makes me miss what I've never had, long for what I've never dreamed of. And the way she writes sadness - the sadness of love, of loss, and the way that people come and go from your life - is so real that it makes you ache inside and keeps you hooked, turning the pages as you wait for the resolution.
I was hooked from the dedication page, as always. The way that Nina can bring you in to a story so abruptly and yet you instantly feel as though you know everything about these characters. I am always left in awe.
My favorite book has been Everything Leads to You since the moment I first picked it up. That book shaped my life in such wonderous and powerful ways that I can't explain, so here's just one; Emi's search for a green couch within the book shaped my own hunt for a sofa this time last year as the centerpiece of the living room in my first apartment, as I wanted to bring part of the book to life in front of me, to be comforted by the presence of the pureness of green and all it represents. Here, in Yerba Buena, the green motif returns; subtle at first, but if you come into it thinking of Lacour's green couch as I always do, you'll notice it right away. Green is life, it's vibrance, it's comfort and strength and the feeling of a hug wrapped around you at the end of a back-breaking sob. I feel lucky to share my world with Nina Lacour's green.
I desire to know this book like the back of my hand, the way I haven't wanted to know a book since Everything Leads to You. I will return to Yerba Buena again when the time is right, as Lacour says, each return a miracle.
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, Rape, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Pedophilia
Minor: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail
yayathegreat38's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Infidelity and Cancer
bencaroline's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Blood, Child death, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual assault, Cancer, War, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Racism, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia
indydc's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Child death, Drug use, Addiction, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Minor: Cancer
andreadelo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Trafficking, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual violence
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
bootsmom3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Rape
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Cancer