Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Things We Couldn't Say by Jay Coles

5 reviews

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted sad tense fast-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

1.5

this book is very...odd. its unclear who the audience is, as the writing is fairly juvenile and easy to follow, but the two sexual scenes in the book dont fit with a younger audience, but the writing isnt developed enough for an older audience. the adults feel stereotypical in their roles, too; the only father thats really there is a hardass whose been bad to his children, and the mothers are only there to be loving and supportive without motives of their own :/ his birth mother does have a sort of motive, but its shoved in at the end and her storyline ends abruptly so it doesnt even really matter. and his father development is HORRIBLE. like all it takes is one conversation for his dad to be nice to him...? im sorry, but thats not how things EVER happen with bad parents.

the main characters were fine, but they all just seemed shallow which is a shame because i saw potential for them all. this book needed to be longer and , frankly, better written. the pacing of this story is way off and it makes the relationship between gio and david very rushed into; the amount of pop-culture references was annoying as hell; the near therapy-level of speak from everyone is flat-out unrealistic and sterilized; and the shoe-horned in dialogue of things that just feel like bullet-points of inclusion is just sloppy, honestly. like...i dont get what this book was really trying to do? like, everything was just surface level and hardly explored or expanded upon, which is unfortunate because it had so many good things going for it! it really didnt work on anything it tried to touch on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Grief, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Drug use

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Child abuse, Homophobia, Biphobia, Infidelity, and Classism

booktribe's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this a lot! My favorite part about this book is that it showed the hood from a very loving pov. There’s good and bad about the hood, but it really is a community and this book showed that. 

And I really appreciated this quote in relation to the gang that runs the neighborhood: “They’re more like the Avengers of the hood. All they want to do is protect The Haven, but sometimes they make bad choices and fuck shit up. But so did Cap and Iron Man and Thor.” We never get the same grace for our bad decisions as white people do. 

I loved Gio and his relationship with Theo, his little brother. I need to see more sibling relationships like this because it was so heartwarming. I also really loved Malik, Karina, Ayesha, and Ms. Diane. There were some amazing characters in this story! I didn’t feel a lot toward the love interest though. I thought he reacted very badly to a situation within the story and I just could never get over it🤷🏽‍♀️

Overall I just really enjoyed this book and I think it deserves way more hype!🙌🏽

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Sexual content and Suicide

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

3.75

I liked how earnest this was. This book addresses a lot of issues that teens face. However, as others have said, the prose and characterization weren't quite right, given that the characters were teens. I also don't think it was necessary to describe the sexual encounters between teenagers. Otherwise, I liked this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Racism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Biphobia, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Police brutality, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Drug use, and Death of parent

Gangs, death of a sibling

xoodlebooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Violence, Biphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Police brutality

Minor: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Death

sadandsapphic's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Homophobia