Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

27 reviews

contemporarymeepsie's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe follows Romy Silvers, the first ever child born in space and the 16 year old commander of The Infinity. Her parents were sent on a mission to set up an new planet earth many light years away but when Romy is born, the mission has to be adapted, and then when disaster strikes, Romy finds herself alone and at the helm of Earth's hope of survival. Until The Eternity shows up with the mysterious J on board. What follows is a desperate fight for truth amongst a confusion of misunderstood history and outright lies.
I read this book for a book club under the genre Paranormal Romance which is most definitely not what I would consider this book to be. I think this is a Young Adult Thriller. When put in the correct context it is a thrilling story in an unusual and fun setting about a character who has foibles but is still very loving given the circumstances. At first I thought the writing was quite simplistic and there was a lot of suspension of disbelief to get on board with what was happening. But reframing the book as YA helped me and in the end I found it entertaining, fast paced and I was rooting for Romy. I would recommend to the right person.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Vomit

Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Mental illness

Minor: Emotional abuse

shogani_sumaru's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Mental illness

Minor: War, Alcohol, Cursing, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident

michaelion's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

I love Romy. That's literally my baby girl child.

This is my second time reading so I knew what was gonna happen but it's been years. But the twists! The turns! I still have whiplash!!! 

And to all the baby girls out there, this should be required reading! Master manipulators / groomers use the same tactics J used in this book! Every girl is special and wonderful and need to trust their instincts! Romy doubted herself because she's a girl, because she thought she was a foolish child; but I need every baby girl to know that you are wiser than you realize! You can doubt the world but don't doubt yourself!!!

Such amazing thrilling writing. I opened the book at 3 pm and finished it by 11 pm! Then I went and added several of James' books to my TBR as soon as I finished this. Lauren James you will always be famous!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Confinement, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Medical content, Vomit, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Self harm

Minor: Alcohol, Fatphobia, War, and Adult/minor relationship

emperor_aj's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Torture, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Death

Minor: Pregnancy, Medical content, Vomit, Stalking, Blood, and Alcohol

lucielvalience034's review against another edition

sad tense fast-paced

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

1.25

This book made me question my life and I would like to do a brain cleansing because of what I had to endure. I do not recommend this book to anyone unless you love tormenting yourself. XXX

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abandonment, Child abuse, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Abortion

he's not 24 ew someone help this literal child

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Grief

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Murder, Gore, Blood, Violence, Medical trauma, Medical content, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Stalking

Minor: Colonisation, Cursing, Abortion, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Alcohol

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

So, I read this in one sitting (audiobooks ftw) and... it was not what I was expecting. 
I thought this would be a fluffy coming of age sci-fi romance that I would give 3 stars. And it definitely starts this way with some hints on a mystery in the past and resulting trauma for the protagonist. And then it changes course and goes some dark places. And I mean some really DARK places. I would recommend to check trigger warnings tbh. 
The atmosphere is definitely what stands out. It starts with this lonely every-day routine in space, but it gets really unsettling and creepy. I do like these kinds of plots, and for the most part it is done well. I think the author accomplished what she wanted to accomplish. I just think some reveals towards the end were a little cliché and unbelievable. Oh yeah, you really need to suspend your disbelief for this one because I don't think the space science was super accurate either. But it works well enough. 
Also, the ending drags a little, too. When I thought we're done, there was still an hour of the audiobook left, and it felt like the plot was just prolonged artificially. But maybe it just felt so jarring because the pacing had felt so natural up until that point. 
But yeah, I enjoyed it for the most part. I was surprised, and I liked the themes of isolation and what it does to your mental health. The author also explored some complicated family and relationship dynamics. But some of this was hard to read, so again, please check trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Confinement, and Toxic relationship

avadear's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death of parent, Vomit, Blood, Gaslighting, Grief, and Medical trauma

teslis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

1.5

I don't know. This book was a real rollercoaster. 

I really liked the concept of a lonely girl stuck in space and her only connection to other humans is digitally over chat to earth. And that one day it change when an other spaceship reach out to talk to her. Without spoling why I disliked this book to much is to say that the main character is young and being used. I also feel that she is not written as a person who's been alone for a long time and that she is "to strong". 

So to explain it further: 

the first thing is that she is around 15/16, never been in love and starting to talk to the other spaceship. She finds out he is a 22 year old mail and "obviously" start to develop feelings. BUT thats not the problem, the problem I had was how he wrote back to her, like he was falling for her. There age gap felt so wrong and just no. The other parts are like I said earlier, I think she is "to strong". She has this big package of her parants dying and being left all alone out in space, that I think it would have given more to her feelings and how she handles stuff like the lights out. I also felt that it was un realistic for the other spaceship pilot to be the son of those other astronauts who died, and that he would take revenge. How could he be left alone awake when they were supost to always be two. Thats something thats drive me crazy. 

It was some time since i listen to this book, but all I remember is that I had big problems with it :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Stalking, Sexual content, and Vomit

tigtig686's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, and Body horror

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Alcohol