Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Before We Came by Sloane St. James

10 reviews

abidavisf's review

funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I love a couple that just knows but, more than that, I love when the male main character is the one who absolutely knows that he’s in love and she is it for him, not in a possessive way, just in a ‘nobody else will ever compare’ way. 

Before We Came is as dark as it is funny. Birdie and Lonan both experienced trauma at a young age, including a shared trauma, and both have lived very different lives that mean that they process that very differently. I would have liked to have heard more about Lonan’s childhood as well as is his existing relationship with his mother, but I suspect it isn’t something that he focuses on much. Instead, choosing to focus his attention on his found family with the Hayes’.

Though I really enjoyed the premise of Before We Came, the writing itself was somewhat lacking. Some areas felt rushed and there were a lot of typos or small continuity errors that affected the rhythm of the tale. What worked really well in this book was the character building, for the main characters at least. I’m intrigued to learn more about the side characters like Micky and Conway, and hope that they get their chance in later books to get their own happy endings.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Murder, Trafficking, Child abuse, Car accident, Child death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Suicide

kathkathkathyyy's review

The writing is so awful. So many plot holes and things that didn’t make sense happen to where the book is completely unreasonable and it’s utterly distracting. Had to stop reading bc I was thinking about how bad it all was every 5 mins

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Death of parent

ashley_bitton's review

adventurous challenging hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, and Kidnapping

petit_biblio's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Child death, Murder, Death of parent, Death, and Car accident

mjen1203's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Murder and Car accident

kearstenkeepsreading's review

I loved the basis of the plot of this book! Birdie is great and is handling what is an absolutely traumatic and insane time in her life with such grace and a lot less panic attacks than I would that’s for sure! But I really cannot bring myself to like Lonan even a little bit. He starts out as a player sleeping around which is fine but he truly has such little regard for these women it is gross. And the way he speaks to and about them is just not it. But even with all of that I was okay with him until he CALLED THE MEDIA AND LEAKED BIRDIES STORY SO SHE WOULDN'T LEAVE! This woman just found out that she was abducted by the woman who she thought was her mother and has been reunited with her long lost family after more than 20 years and instead of supporting her and giving her space to find her footing and be there for her you throw a hissy fit and call the media because you overheard a one side conversation. Dude grow up and ask her how she is doing and if she doesn’t tell you RESPECT THAT AND GIVE HER SPACE! Then he basically coerces her into staying with him at his place so she will be safe from the media. Who will keep her safe from you bro!? And then she tells him numerous times I’m not ready for a relationship and things are crazy I can only be your friend and he just ignores her REPEATEDLY and won’t just let her be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Minor: Child death

alfarmer's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

An incredible debut novel. I went into this only knowing it was a hockey romance after a friend recommended it and it was a great time! I don’t want to give anything away if someone also wants to go in blind, but please read content warning. There are heavy topics throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Child death, and Abandonment

katkinslee's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was so not what I was expecting but I'm so glad I read it. I loved how obsessed Lonan was with Birdy and the sexy scenes were 5 out of 5, very steamy. The third break up sucked but I understand why it happened even though I hated it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping and Emotional abuse

tguccione's review

challenging 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? Yes

5.0

An amazing debut novel! A hockey romance with a true crime backstory? Yes, please! I recommend this book to EVERYONE who will listen! Probably my favorite read of the year. Lonan is a top book boyfriend and Birdie is a great FMC. I was so emotional over their story right from the beginning.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Car accident, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide, Child death, and Murder

ab7902's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Emotional abuse