Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

166 reviews

readersmultiverse's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Mad Honey was an incredibly powerful and emotional story with great depth. The mystery aspect kept me on the edge of my seat and the characters are going to be difficult to forget. This was an important story & I loved the extra bits at the end as well (the authors’ notes and the honey recipes!) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Outing, Domestic abuse, and Transphobia

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Medical content

jrow's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Found the book boring until the trial revealed Lily was AMAB. I thought it was a clever way to surprise the reader with the knowledge, just like the court was discovering it. However, before that point reading the beginning was as easy as a walk through knee-deep mud.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Homophobia, Outing, Suicide attempt, Violence, Transphobia, Bullying, Deadnaming, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood

makenziehyatt's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

A beautiful and complex story with a plot that will keep you guessing. I couldn’t put it down

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Transphobia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Murder and Violence

cari_mac's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

really appreciated this book. check the TWs, there's some serious content in here. but love the story itself and how it is revealed. y'all know i love a twisty turny 

i do not love a miscommunication trope, but when it comes to family secrets, its at least a more realistic use of them!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Child abuse, Death, Bullying, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Outing, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Self harm

rsilverst's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

This was such a fantastic book from start to finish. The closer I got to the end, the more I worried that I would be disappointed, but this book was really well architected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death, Dysphoria, Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Transphobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Sexual assault

meyeram30's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

Mad Honey is an intensely engaging story of young love, tragedy, and secrets hidden beneath the surface. Jodi Piccoult and Jennifer Boylan seamlessly merged their writing styles into a fascinating tale I could not put down. I found myself reading for hours without noticing any time had passed. The subplots and backgrounds of each character were extremely well done, allowing subtleties in tone and actions to be understood easily. I felt very connected to Olivia throughout the story- so much so that I teared up as if I was Asher’s mother at multiple points. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Child death, Transphobia, and Child abuse

Minor: Sexual harassment

mollz12's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

I was actually surprised to love this book. I decided to listen to it for some of my road trips and it was worth it. I could hear the parts I would have put it down and had a hard time coming back. 
I was confused a lot why they would back track with Lily’s memories. I kept thinking I went backwards but I think they did it on purpose. 
It was very intense and very sad. The hopeful parts were of the mothers saving their children. 

The parts of Lily recounting Ash being mean; yelling , grabbing her, speeding, etc. were interesting to add especially because Lily never shared them out loud, and the court scenes were of him being nice and calm. 
I thought that these pieces were silly to add because I wanted justice for Lily that Ash wasn’t the greatest. Or I wish it was more smaller anger emotions that he apologized later because of his trauma. I think I was disappointed that Lily never got to share it. The true character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexual content, Outing, Death, Child abuse, and Toxic friendship

goodin10tions's review

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Mad Honey is it's own story but I feel like if you are a fan of Saving Jacob, Middlesex,  or The Lovely Bones you will love it. The journey of all the characters is haunting and melancholy. Sensitive readers should research the content because there are many possible triggers.
This is a long story (15 hrs) but it goes by really fast. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Bullying, and Homophobia

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Grief, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts

hannahjacobsen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I found the writing to be really engaging and I loved the character development. However, while I did learn a lot, it was a bit heavy-handed on the hot topics for a fiction book and came off preachy or over-the-top at times. The twist that came halfway through the book was unexpected and really changed the focus of the story, which I wasn’t anticipating based on the synopsis.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Child abuse, Transphobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

pferdina's review against another edition

hopeful sad fast-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

4.0

Olivia tells her story forward while Lily tells hers backwards in time. It was very interesting structure. I enjoyed the facts about bees. The story itself was compelling. Really good depiction of trans women, I thought. Also great depiction of all women’s issues. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Hate crime

Minor: Abortion