Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Cemetery Boys

Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

haleyapratt's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

sssssss's review

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this book! this book... it’s so amazing, to start off with. I read it for the first time a few weeks ago and since then have already started my reread of it. I don’t even know how to put into words my love of this book. just please read it, you will not regret it (but check out the content warnings first!)

also the line, « no, none of us deserved julian diaz » 😭😭😭

also to add, the characters are so well-developed and each of them feel so real. even the side characters feel like they have their own distinct personality and the main characters were well fleshed-out. the fears, wants and thoughts of these characters also are so realistic to their personalities. i just love this book 🥺😭😭.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Xenophobia

The suicidal thoughts spolier is for something Julian says early on in reference to how his brother is probably glad that he is gone. This isn’t necessarily an explicit suicidal thought but it’s the kind of thinking a lot of suicidal people can have. Additionally, it is mentioned at one point that the two parents of a dead/missing character go to the police to report them missing but the police begin to question them and it is mentioned the police wanted to deport them (they are latinx, I don’t remember their exact ethnicity/(ies). One of the reasons put for this was that they spoke very little english, and the police often respond to this with the xenophobic and racist reaction of wanting to deport them. The characters do not end up getting deported, luckily. At the end (cult tw) and major spoilers for the end of the book (scroll down to see a less detailed/spoilery tw of this)

there is a mention of the characters who were found alive in the old church having been part of a cult ritual as a police explanation. this could be triggering to some readers. additionally, while it is not necessarily a cult, there was a ritual used by a character that was going to kill 4 people. these people were found in time and the character performing the ritual dies instead, but this could also be triggering to some readers.

(cult mention) At the end, there are mentions of a cult in order to explain to people why something significant happened in the book. There are also mentions of a cult ritual. (minor spoilers)

There are an additional few scenes of a ritual taking place, although this ritual is not necessarily a cult ritual. One character dies, but the other characters end up okay.(injuries + stabbing mention)There are mentions of blood and stabbing, and a scene where a character gets a major stab wound. This character ends up okay.

Also mentioned parental abuse, though not explicitly shown. These mentions do not happen a ton but this book doesn’t shy away from being real, so just for a warning. At one point, (animal abuse slightly, but not done purposefully) it is mentioned how the failed healing of a cat caused the cat to be harmed forever. the cat is not in pain but their leg is mutilated. also a warning for slightly unsafe binder use. of course all binder are different but make sure to look up the safety measures for using a binder if you do use one, as this book had some points of the mc sometimes misusing it. there are some mentions of the binder causing them to feel in pain when they are running or something similar, but they are brief. finally, there are a few brief instances of deadnaming. we see yadriel’s hurt reaction and know his thoughts and feelings on it, and this could be triggering. yadriel’s dead name is never spelled-outhowever, so the dead-naming is handled gracefully.

samchase112's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was absolutely the perfect book for spooky season! Cemetery Boys brings readers into the world of the brujx, a Latinx community that looks over the spirits of the departed. The rich, cultural descriptions were so beautiful, and I loved being immersed in the brujx culture. It's mystical yet deeply rooted in real cultures and peoples. Thomas also talks a lot about transphobia and what it means to be transgender, as Yadriel is a gay, transgender character. I feel like I learned so much about trans culture, but it felt natural to the story.

In this one, not only do you get an adorable romance, but it's between a spirit and a human?! Yes please! Julien and Yadriel were so cute together, and I loved each of them individually. Julien was such a bright light, and I loved how deeply he cared for his friends and family. Maritza was also a really fun character, and I enjoyed how she played off Yadriel and Julien.

Aiden Thomas weaved all the threads of their story together so well, nothing felt out of place. The mystery, romance, culture, mysticism, and deep discussions all worked together to form a coherent story. I couldn't stop turning the pages! I can't recommend this amazing story enough :)

Content Warnings

booksthatburn's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Cemetery Boys is one of my most gloriously happy things I've read in a long while. It delights in its spookiness, celebrating life while giving enough space to mourn when needed. I just want to hug them all, reading this book feels like being part of their joy.

I love everything about this book. I needed to read something positive right now and this took my breath away with how reassuring and celebratory it is. The MCs are working through some very tough things (one of them is a ghost, after all) but they build each other up in a way that has this wonderful oscillation where they're almost never sad at the same time and they keep helping each other and making things better. It's the right amount of spooky, extremely affirming

And that's before the ending, the truly amazing ending that I won't spoil, I don't dare. It just wraps up everything so perfectly in a way that fits with everything that came before while still blowing me away.

Usually when I'm reading a book that comes so highly recommended there will be some moment, some turning point where something clicks and I understand what's so wonderful, why everyone's talking about it at a level beyond just being written well. In this book that happened more than once, first early on as I was getting into the book, then again towards the end (that fantastic ending). The characters are great, with distinct narrative voices and solid personalities; I love the plot, it felt like I knew what was going on, what the goals were, and where the story was taking me, while still having room to be surprised in great ways; and the setting is sketched in way that gives me a feeling of how the spaces are connected to each other without bogging the story down in exact geographic detail.

Content Warnings

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Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

haleyapratt's review

sssssss's review

samchase112's review

booksthatburn's review