Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

47 reviews

thisbriannahope's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Addiction, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

ada_rosales's review against another edition

challenging fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Abandonment, Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Rape, Grief, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

ohmygoshtosh'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

joelletribbiani's review against another edition

Really gross scene where the main character (16) and a new acquaintance agree to get off a family friend for $300. That and the juvenile writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Murder, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Drug use, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Grief, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

skan's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

The beginning of this book is very slow and it took a while to get used to LaCour's descriptive writing style. Honestly, I nearly DNFed at that point, but it does get better. I preferred one of the MCs over the other (especially at the beginning), but the narration split between the two felt very uneven, which also contributed to my dislike. That said, the book got much better once the two characters got together. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Child death

Moderate: Grief, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use and Murder

elliska's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Mine had a printing error. Not the book the jacket made me think. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Adult/minor relationship

rayannotates's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Abandonment, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Pedophilia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

smlemire's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

"So this was how it felt-to be dealt a blow, to pause, to keep going in spite of it. Not to start over but to continue."

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.

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Content Warnings

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

foreveristhesweetestcon's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

It’s just bad. I don’t know. The plot was kind of all over the place, in the sense that I just did not know where the author was headed. At the same time, some of the plot points were just so predictable. In all the wrong ways. I feel like Lacour tried to tackle some tough topics in here like sexual assault, but they were done poorly or they were skimmed over. And the characters did not have enough depth. They didn’t even have enough to be unlikable. I felt little attachment to them and scarcely any chemistry between the two main love interests. And the prose... It just read like a bad fanfic. I rushed to read this in a day so that I could get to my next book. If I had to pick out one positive thing, it would be Lacour’s comfort with sexuality and its fluidity. I appreciated the casual but not inaccurate representation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault