Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

15 reviews

modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Pros: The focus on friend-love and friends-as-family was good. Time loop plots are always fun and this was a good example of that.

Less a con, more that it's "not for me": Sometimes the teenagers act like teenagers in a way that activated my secondhand embarrassment hardcore. Less a criticism, more a warning that those prone to such feelings might cringe at a few sections.

Con: Kate was SEVERELY manic pixie dream girl'd in her characterization. That's the biggest factor that knocked this book down a few pegs. 

I'd say this is overall a pretty good book and worth reading, but the Kate characterization could've been better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Hate crime, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Car accident and Alcohol

Cursing: Two f-words that I can remember. Gun violence/hate crime/murder/racism: Occurs in the

fourth loop; one character is shot for wearing a hoodie and being non-white in an upper-class neighborhood.

Infidelity:

Also occurs in the fourth loop.

There is onscreen kissing, bed-sharing, no explicit sex though. Family troubles (divorce, paternal abandonment) are recurring plot issues.

ellahoward_'s review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

This book grew on me. It felt like a YA ‘about time’ story, that was cute and endearing. I also liked how the author split the book into chapters that flowed in the story. 
TW: gun violence, racism, hate crime, police brutality. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gun violence, Death, Police brutality, Racism, and Violence

jesse_5's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

It is an amazing story but I did find the first few chapters a bit hard to follow due to the time junping about so muc

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Toxic friendship, and Grief

Minor: Stalking, Abandonment, and Hate crime

one of the main characters has sickle cell and dies multiple times due to it. This is the main theme of the book. In one section there is a very toxic friendship and a character gets shot (he is ok) for being on someone’s property A character has a deadbeat dad who essentially abandoned him In one section of the book there is a minor theme of stalking as Jack decides to anonymously help Kate and spies on her to check treatment is working

bujo_bellel's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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

3.5

I quite liked this book, it was rather slow at the start which I think could have been made quicker. I liked the build-up and how it teaches us the morale that time is precious and that we should never give up. I quite like the relationship between Jack and Kate. I really hate the pet name (baby) that Franny and Jillian called each other which is one of my pet peeves. This book was kind-of anti-climatic but it might be because I was reading this book for a long time and thus was in this world for very long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Terminal illness, Racism, and Abandonment

Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, and Alcohol

peachani's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Medical content, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Car accident, Death, and Gun violence

Minor: Violence and Infidelity

ludmireads's review

challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-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

4.0

Giving this book 4 stars because I think this is what I’d rate it when I was 17 (a. k. a. when I was the target audience). 
I didn’t enjoy this book as much now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, and Medical content

nerdysread's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious slow-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

3.75

A good book. What really makes it work is the relationships between the characters 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Gun violence

grizzlysnack's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

The good things about this book:

• the concept
• Jack's support system

The bad things about this book:

• the execution of concept
• characters
• character interactions & dialogue

This book is very forgettable, to be honest. If I didn't write out the different scenes for this review and journal entries I probably wouldn't be able to tell you anything significant from the plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical content

Moderate: Chronic illness and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, and Gun violence

Part 4 was by far the worst piece of text I've read in a good while. The rest of the book wasn't AS BAD but the rest of it was still bad

cheye13's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.0

This is very well written, but I didn't like it as much as I'd wanted to. I'm not sure this is marketed quite right, since the emphasis is on the "groundhog day" trope and I don't think that trope is done well here. It's a new take on the trope, but I'm not sure the take adds anything necessarily worthwhile to the use of the trope itself. And there is acknowledgement of this within the text that feels like a cheap copout that I'd rather have been left out.

This also reads very young. The height of emotion and sense of stakes only works because this is a teenager's perspective, and even then it still strains belief. Ultimately I'm glad this book was published, but it's most definitely not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Medical content, Gun violence, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Police brutality and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol and Car accident

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

4.0

I really liked this book! There were so many laugh out loud scenes, moments that were so difficult to read. Great characters and fantastic writing! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Minor: Car accident, Infidelity, Violence, and Gun violence

Shooting based on racial profiling