Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Yerba Buena

CW: death, implied-suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, overdose, rape, underage sex work (mentioned), cheating, grief, mental illness, trauma

This was a pretty great start to LaCour's entry into the adult fiction world. It does cover a lot of heavy topics, so take any content/trigger warnings seriously before diving in. With the way the blurb sounded, I DID think it'd be a little more focused on the two MC's coming together than it actually was.

This is mainly a contemporary literary fiction novel about two women's lives and the trauma & experiences they go through throughout their lives before those lives intersect. it touches on them together in a couple points (similar to Normal People by Sally Rooney), but it focuses a lot more on their individual events without each other. I found the pacing in the middle to be a bit slow, but it had a strong beginning and ending and I ultimately was rooting for them.

I hope LaCour continues to dive into the adult fiction world, I will absolutely continue reading her work. I was just expecting a little more here & was honestly a bit confused in points.

Content Warnings

lacey_wi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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readingwithtrey's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

“She'd been a flower. Snipped from the root, quick to wilt, temporary. She'd existed to be lovely and to be chosen. No one had expected her to last.”

“Here was the taste of it — a little bitter, a little sweet, some citrus brightness, maybe honey. And here was meaning. A home, hers alone.”

Wow, where to begin. I went into this one blind and it exceeded any expectations I had. This is a story about the lives of Sara and Emilie and the steps that lead them to each other. I was so captivated by and invested in both of their lives. The story felt real and raw and the ending definitely lived up to that vibe. I truly enjoyed this one and highly recommend.

CW: addiction, overdose, death, infidelity

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kingrosereads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A sapphic piece of literary fiction that starts off great but falls flat halfway through.

This book starts off the way you expect it to as this kind of sad summer vibe with Sara and Emilie’s adolescent traumas. Sara’s childhood best friend turned girlfriend is found dead in a river which results in 16 year old Sara running away to LA. Emilie, at 15, witnesses her older sister overdose in their home. The books goes back and force between the two POVs and it also switches from their past and present throughout the book. This flow works at times and other times is very clunky. I found myself liking their stories separately but not really caring about their story together.

The book is advertised as being this romantic drama where these two women are connected by this one small thing, and they have to overcome their past trauma to make their relationship work. However, the women don’t meet until the halfway point. They meet briefly and then don’t meet for another year where it then takes a few months before they run into each other again and start a relationship that’s gone on for a couple of months before they hit a (albeit mild) snag that has them both questioning the relationship and their own self-worths. It’s this point that’s lost on me. Their connection is instant which I get and could be on board with, but then it’s all very instalove and high stakes when it’s only been a couple of months. And their entire relationship is brushed over. Which, if this is just literary fiction, say that, don’t advertise it as this romantic drama when the romance is barely in the book, and the romance that is there, is pretty insignificant. These women are 26 and 28, which is relatively young, but they’re acting like they’re 19 and 21.

I did like Emilie’s struggle with her Creole identity and passing, but it’s just kind of brushed over. Just like Sara’s past is brushed over.

The book eventually meanders through these two stories that takes away from the emotional aspect of the book. I’d honestly prefer if this was just their two respective stories to show maybe their hardships so you can connect to them, but make the stories more linear, only jumping back when it’s relevant. Then end with them meeting and leaving it open ended.

It gets points for the first half and actually getting my cold, dead heart to feel something.

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kimveach's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

Yerba Buena is a stunningly beautiful book. It follows the story of two young women through the trauma of their lives. It is a surprisingly hopeful book as they learn to deal with their pasts. I recommend the audio version as the narration was excellent.

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bi_n_large's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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rosemaryslibrarian's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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