Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - The Other Ones

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Other Ones by Fran Hart

7 reviews

elsreads's review

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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

4.5

really loved this book!!!! not muchhh plot wise happened tbh and some of the secondary characters could have been developed a bit more but this was the book that got me back into reading and I found the main characters so so loveable! Was such a cosy and easy read and I just really loved everything about it! Wish it was marketed better (less of a Halloween spooky book and more of a queer, found family, spiritual, mental health kind of book) cause I really think a lot of people would enjoy it. was really heart warming and I thought the way

pax was there for sal through everything with his mum in hospital as well as the relationship with his sister

was really beautiful and I think a lot of people would relate to it. Yes there were some flaws but they didn’t at all take away from my enjoyment of the book. my fave book of the year <3

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forestthing's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed the read a lot but some parts felt a bit rushed and unfinished, although not unsatisfying. It's not world moving but still makes you think a bit. Over all a good but not amazing read.

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amy_reading_23's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This book made me cry in a good way ❤️ its just so cute! 🎃

Content Warnings

izzyproudfoot's review

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hopeful lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This was cute. Not exactly what I expected but it was sweet.

I didn't agree with the twist, I don't think people should be forgiven for that kind of thing and it's incredibly toxic to portray they should.

Content Warnings

bookishmind_13's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

I’m having a lot of trouble figuring out how to rate this one and how to organise my thoughts into an actual cohesive review so please bear with my rambling😅

I’m going to do something I don’t normally do and start by listing the things that I didn’t really like about this book:

I was really excited to pick this book up (I mean a spooky, queer book about a group of friends and a haunted house! Couldn’t think of anything better), however right from the first page I wasn’t really sure if I was going to enjoy it. The main reason for that, is the writing style felt really amateur and basic. The descriptions felt off, everything felt rushed and nothing really flowed that well, it all just felt quite stiff. Bad writing always turns me off of a book quite quickly but this time I decided to keep going. (I’m certainly glad I did.)

My other main issue with this book was that it didn’t really have a plot, at all. I was really intrigued by the premise of the haunted house and was expecting a really spooky/ scary read but it was nothing like I imagined it would be. The idea of the haunted house and ghosts was actually fairly irrelevant throughout most of the book until the end and by the time I was halfway through absolutely nothing had really happened in terms of the plot. It wasn’t until around the last 50 pages that something started to happen and even that felt quite rushed and unnecessary.

This distinct lack of any kind of plot or purpose would normally really put me off, however, despite all of the aforementioned issues I really enjoyed this book.

The Other Ones is an extremely character driven book, with the main focus being entirely on our leading couple. At it’s core, it’s a gay romance and I think the blurb was slightly misleading. If it had been portrayed as such more in the synopsis I think would’ve been able to enjoy it even more, without the slight sense of betrayal. In reality, the spooky, haunted house, graveyard, Halloween type feel was really just a backdrop as opposed to a plot.

Once I got past this, I absolutely adored this read.

Our main character Sal is a fairly grumpy introvert who has no real desire to interact with anyone other than his one best friend Dirk (popular football player) and his older sister Asha. This is until Pax comes along.

Pax is extremely weird. He wears strange homemade clothes that are almost exclusively knitted and brightly coloured; has absolutely no concept of social cues and doesn’t really care all the much what anybody thinks about him; he also really loves ghosts.

In the beginning I really didn’t think this pairing would work at all and generally, I am not a fan of romances and hate the idea of forced couples more than anything else. I also hate books where romance fixes everything and I’m so glad this wasn’t the case as I was originally expecting it to be. It’s almost a soft enemies to lovers and it becomes a grumpy bf + sunshine bf type thing which I absolutely adored. It truly did start to feel that these two were made for each other, despite having absolutely nothing in common.

Although, I did feel that some more attention could’ve been put into fleshing out Elsie and Dirk’s personalities and backstories a little more as sometimes I felt they were a bit lacking. However there was such a positive and feel good atmosphere in all the scenes where they were all hanging out together that felt really cozy.

My favourite character of all had to be Pax. He was just incredible. He was so content in himself despite being extremely bad a socialising and considered weird by everyone around him. He just constantly gives off this intensely warm and comforting energy that melts my heart and at times nearly brought me to tears with how sweet he is. He’s like a little ray of sunshine.

Now something I have always very vocally hated is unnecessary/forced/ poorly written scenes of physical affection. The first kiss in the book was anything but that. It was so well written and done in a way that I haven’t really seen before. It was so unbelievably sweet and innocent and adorable.

The main thing about all of this that I loved, was that Sal had no idea he was gay and neither did anyone around him, however, it wasn’t a big deal at any point. There was no major coming out, there was none of the post-realisation emotional turmoil, no homophobia, it was no big deal. There were a few small discussions between close friends/family that were fairly easy and uneventful but that was it. It wasn’t seen as this huge dramatic thing as it often is, it just was… he was gay and that was it. It was honestly so refreshing to see it done like this, queer joy all the way through. Yes there was drama, but none of it had to do with being gay. I think it is so important to have books like this available that just show queer characters enjoying their lives with no backlash about their identities. Characters where being gay isn’t their only personality trait.

Despite what I consider to be poor writing and a lack of time to fully develop the characters and plot, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I truly could not stop smiling and giggling the whole time. It was warm and comforting and peaceful and so easy to get lost in that I finished it in almost one sitting. It’s one of those books that’s calling for me to reread it already and return to the peace and comfort that it brought me.

If you are a critical reader who desperately needs good writing and a distinct plot to be able to immerse yourself in a book, then I don’t think The Other Ones is for you. However, if you loved heartstopper and enjoy queer, character driven, comforting reads, or need something quick and easy to make you smile and get you out of a slump I really recommend.

Content Warnings

nicole_zx's review

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dark emotional sad fast-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

3.0

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xtsukix's review

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This was not at all what I expected and I loved every second of it.

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