Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

23 reviews

kell_xavi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

4.0

Fantastic story of survival and sisterhood among five teenage girls who escape sex trafficking into a fantasy wild west landscape of saloons and forests and robberies (by them) and horse-riding and mining and dust. Davis writes well, with good pacing and style all the way through, save a few too many “here’s what we learned along the way” moments near the end. Her characters are bright and real, with Aster and Violet standing out in particular in the thick darkness of their emotions. It’s a good group to follow. I wasn’t sure why the girls continued using their welcome house names after they’d left, as it’s not really explained and didn’t feel quite right, but I was satisfied by most everything else in the pages of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gun violence, Trafficking, and Misogyny

Moderate: Drug use, Cursing, Confinement, Torture, Murder, and Addiction

Minor: Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

directorpurry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Torture, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Drug abuse

anaguana's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Minor: Infertility

decklededgess's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

trigger warnings: sexual assault (opening scene), sexual violence related ptsd, drug addiction, trafficking, racism, imprisonment and confinement, 

This book was a tough one. I had to pivot from physical to audiobook just to make it easier to process. From the get go it's apparent this is a rather loose allegory for Westward expansion era slavery. I mean really only the densest of people isn't going to pick up on that. It's really well researched and tactfully written. The attention to detail in terms of character development, trauma responses, relationship and trust building, were all incredibly crafted. The characters felt real, their responses felt genuine, amazing and touching stuff to read. 
The fantasy worldbuilding was a bit confusing but this is book 1 in this world/series, most of it was expository which is understandable, and this was a heavily character driven book so I wasn't too phased. Plus if we're considering the prior knowledge we already have about Wild West America, really all you have to do is swap certain terminology and you've got 90% of it covered.
Amazing book, can't wait to get to my ARC of the second book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Torture, and Rape

sarahaf712's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, and Self harm

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, and Violence

kelseyland's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

5.0

A tense, face-paced escape story that takes place in a dark, fantastical version of the American West. This definitely felt more like part one of a series than a standalone novel so I'm glad the next book is already out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Sexual violence, Addiction, Drug use, Gun violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Medical trauma, Rape, Suicide, Child abuse, Infertility, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

ohheyandi's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I didn't think I'd love this book as much as I did. The characters are pretty well fleshed out and compelling, and I really enjoyed the Western-esque setting. And honestly, I'm also a sucker for analogue swear words. You can bet I'm adding "ripping" into my mental rolodex of phrases. I will say the plot get a bit repetitive, but honestly it felt episodic and I didn't mind. I'm going to be thinking about this book for days.
Also, I was getting a bit of a gay vibe from Violet and Aster, so I'm kind of hoping we get to see that relationship (either romantic or platonic, honestly both are good) develop more in the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, and Trafficking

Moderate: Infertility, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

jolovestoread's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective tense fast-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

4.75

An action packed adventure that I enjoyed reading from start to finish. I often wanted to continue and couldn't wait to find out how life would go for the girls. I desperately wanted them to succeed and get out of the awful situation they were landed in, but also felt very invested in seeing this world be improved. 
There were a few supernatural elements with the tattoos that glow when covered as they are made from ink beyond the veil (or of the veil?) and also the vengeful spirits that are the ghosts of people who have passed away and literally can rip you to shreds, but you cannot see them. 
It breaks my heart to know that this kind of world does exist in quite a similar way still for many girls and women. I wish it wasn't so, this is quite a heavy topic, but it isn't a depressing book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Child abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

sabrielsbell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.25

The premise of this book is amazing and felt very new and unique.  Unfortunately, the rest of the book felt very surface level to me when it could have been so much more.  I struggled with the main character who was SO angry.  I tried to be okay with it because she had every right to be angry but it just didn't work for me.  A side-character also had an angry demeanor that made more sense because it was a 'look after myself/leave me alone anger' while the main character just wanted to be the boss.  She would talk about protecting everyone and then go into reckless situations or refuse to accept the only option.  I also struggled with the plot conveniences that came up throughout the book. Overall, I think it missed the mark in a lot of ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual violence, and Trafficking