Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

124 reviews

roveronez's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

A poignant novel written in duo with seamless perfection! So many delicate subjects treated with a lot of kindness and respect. There is a lot of emotion, a lot of second guessing, oh so many triggers... and a mistery to be solved. The story is written in 2 voices, one moving forward as the story evolves, the other backwards - which was a bit disconcerting at times - to slowly reveal the background and shatter our hearts. Beautifully written!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Grief, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

feralpoodles's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

Very good, very emotional and heavy, but also gripping mystery. Definitely very dark, basically any dark/heavy emotional theme you can think of is at least mentioned in this book, but I don’t think it’s too heavy handed most of the time. I liked the back and forth perspectives between Olivia and Lily, but (mostly stylistically) I liked Olivia’s chapters better. Sometimes Lily’s chapters made the pacing feel a little stilted, and the timeline wasn’t quite clear for me. I actually didn’t realize that Lily’s perspective was in reverse chronological until the very end (though that could just me my problem because I tend not to register time spans/dates when they’re written out at the start of chapters). Thought it was a very well done exploration of abusive relationships and the cycle of abuse. Great plot twist in the middle, I audibly went “Whaaat” when it was revealed, and I flipped back through what I just read and stuff made a lot more sense, which is my favorite kind of twist. A bit preachy sometimes, there’s a few bits after the plot twist that feel like a tumblr psa post that break the immersion a bit, but there weren’t too many instances so I can forgive them, especially since the topic is so misunderstood and polarized right now. Dragged on a few times, but overall kept me very engaged and emotionally invested, definitely heartbreaking, lots of complex emotions. Loved all the bee stuff too, was very interesting to learn about and thematically was very satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt

vharting's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Had no idea what this book was about, but I always saw it at Target and it was available on Libby so I gave it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised! A great book with surprisingly accurate bee information 😂. Had a few plot twists I really didn’t see coming.

A little sad and conflicted that the book incorporated a trans character just to have her be dead

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Bullying

Minor: Abortion

christinesreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Grief, Bullying, Deadnaming, Child death, Death, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion

barktea's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

silverhill's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Death, Dysphoria, Transphobia, and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting, Blood, Outing, Deadnaming, Medical content, and Bullying

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Sexual content, and Death of parent

thebooknookgroup's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

At the beginning I really liked this book. I knew next to nothing going into this book and when I realized it was a murder mystery I couldn't put it down. I liked the writing and connection to honey bees. That is, until about a quarter way through the book when the novelty wore off for me. I began skimming sections and pages. It went downhill from there for me. Not only did the plot become a bit predictable, but it seemed like the author was stuffing as many social issues into it as she could. I really do tend to enjoy books that tastefully/artfully address important social topics, but here it just felt like the author was trying too hard. It was one after another with more honey bee facts sprinkled in between. This will sit at three stars for me because I can understand why others like this book - it just wasn't for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Self harm

Minor: Abortion and Transphobia

alexisvv14's review against another edition

informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

It pissed me off that they unveiled what happened to Lilly in half a page. There’s over 400 pages and that’s it? Anticlimactic in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion

droznowski's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-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? No

5.0

Wow was this book good! I love how the authors were able to keep me guessing the whole book. I was so conflicted about whether or not Asher did it even after the verdict. 
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The way the book revealed Lily being trans was done really well. I think that a lot of the points characters made around being trans were really beautiful. I really appreciated Jennifer’s authors note at the end. I too was saddened by Lily’s death just when she was finally getting to be herself and starting her life but that is the reality for so many trans women. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abortion

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