Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk

8 reviews

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.5

This book is all about grief and struggling to find oneself after the death of a loved one. This is a book that I had to be in the right headspace to read and sometimes it was really hard. 

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axel_p's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

4.0

I cried at least 5 times!

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stories's review against another edition

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challenging sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

It was fine, I guess. From the blurbs, I didn’t expect it to be as heavily focussed on survivors working their way through grief, but maybe that’s on me. “Music” very much is background rather than centric - much more a story of teenagers dealing with the loss of their friends. 

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psistillreadyou's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-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

3.0


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ladygetslit's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.5


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plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad slow-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

4.5

I didn’t know much about this book before starting it, and even contemplated taking it off my TBR so I could focus on other books. I’m so glad I read it, though, because now I know that Ashley Woodfolk is a brilliant author, one definitely worth watching.

This is one of the saddest contemporaries I’ve ever read, but also one of the best portrayals of grief I’ve ever seen. I loved all of the characters (except maybe Rohan), and I would really like to give Autumn, Logan, Shay and Dante enormous hugs.

I loved the way music helped all of them through their grief, and how, in the end, they helped each other. I loved the friendships in this book, and Autumn and Dante’s budding romance was so adorable. I loved the way this book didn’t have a perfect ending, but still a hopeful one, and that throughout it all was a reminder to appreciate the beauty that remains after loss. (Also, in that context, isn’t that just a beautiful, poetic title?? Props to Woodfolk for that. 👏🏻)

This is an undeniably heavy read, but if it’s one you can handle, I highly recommend it. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.

Representation
  • Black protagonist
  • Korean protagonist
  • gay protagonist
  • queer side characters (includes sapphic and gay rep)
  • side characters of color (includes Black and Latine rep)

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breannajailene's review against another edition

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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

4.5


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jaec11's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

4.5

4.5 stars

This book was stunning. So emotional and beautiful and just stunning.

We follow three characters who have all just lost someone close to them. They each move through grief in different ways and we see how they all grapple with that. 

The best thing about this book was the characters. They are all loveable and realistic and imperfect, and each with distinctive and beautiful voices. The writing was amazing and poetic and impactful from every character.

I don't cry in books, but I did for this book. The grief was palpable and the pain every character felt was evident through the pages 

My one complaint about this book was the number of characters. 3 characters, all with complex lives and friends, makes for a hard time keeping track. But I loved it anyways.

PG-13 for language, suicide, and other heavy material

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