Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

5 reviews

mx_sunshine's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective 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

3.0

I love the relaxing way Nina LaCour describes spaces. I love how the passions of the main characters were explored. Nina conveys her great appreciation of beauty through her writing. Buildings, drinks, and flowers are romantically described.
I appreciate the many different life events Nina covered. Death, grief, trauma, moving and heartache. I liked the pace of the book. I was surprised at how dark the content was in the beginning.
I feel like side characters weren’t fleshed out beyond their relationship to the main characters. 
I would’ve liked to read more about how Emilie and Sarah supported each other. I feel like I understood their passions as a reader, but I would’ve liked the characters to express their admiration for each other.
I really enjoyed Emilie’s development over the book.
Emilie and Sarah spend more time apart in the novel than together. I feel like Sarah was 
It would have been interesting to see how Emilie and Sarah discuss and reflect on their class differences. There was a lot of emphasis on Emilie’s immigrant grandparents. But she grew up in a home where she was financially supported. She spends years as an undergraduate in university and finishes with a degree that she doesn’t use.
Sarah mentions she read books that were on a university list.
I want to know how Spencer is doing. It feels like characters are given a happy ending through the establishment of a relationship. 
I thought the way Collette’s retreat couldn’t be defined was strange. It felt like an easy way to rush character development.
Emilie’s and Sarah’s experiences with drugs was used as a similarity between them. But this history wasn’t expanded on in how they managed that in the present.
There seems to be a lot of unhealed trauma in this book that people aren’t seeking help for. This makes me wary to accept the “happy” ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Sexual assault, Addiction, Death of parent, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Cursing

republicofben's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

What an incredible, reflective book! This isn't just a romance novel, plus one could argue the romance isn't actually the main focus of Sara and Emilie's stories. This book had a much more serious, sad tone than I expected, particularly early on. Make sure you go into this book looking for this kind of story, but I'm the right mindset it's a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Abandonment, and Self harm

Minor: Terminal illness, Car accident, Child abuse, Body horror, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

littki's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

bencaroline's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

caitlynva's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

A wonderful book where two women’s separate stories come together as one over a shared location. Each comes with their own struggles and complex issues that leads you to never take a “side” throughout the book. Beautifully written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Death, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting