Scan barcode
mx_sunshine'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
3.0
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.
Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Sexual assault, Addiction, Death of parent, Abandonment, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Cursing
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
republicofben'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
5.0
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
- 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
smlemire'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
lolajh'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
4.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Grief, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Addiction, Sexual content, and Drug use
oz2021'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
3.5
Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Drug abuse, and Alcohol
pale_faced_fear'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
4.75
Moderate: Grief, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Rape, Death of parent, and Death
geekybobbin's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Child death, and Drug abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Terminal illness
lovealwaysadi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Infidelity, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, Murder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Abandonment
Minor: Toxic relationship and Terminal illness