Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers

54 reviews

caitlynva's review

hopeful medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Mental illness

Moderate: Racism, Abandonment, Sexual content, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

el219's review against another edition

3.25

wish the romance and self discovery parts were in separate books ☹️ didn't like the mix of them unfortunately

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Racism and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual content

matheo's review

challenging emotional reflective

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Drug use, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, and War

jenmcreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

I loved this book. I will say, I am glad I was forewarned that this is not a rom-com. I think it was somewhat marketed that way, and the initial premise of waking up married to a stranger in Vegas sounds like the start of a rom-com. There is romance in this book, but more than anything it is a book about burnout and mental health, barriers in academia (for Black women specifically in the case of the protagonist), and defining your own life goals rather than allowing them to be set by outside pressure and prestige. 

Grace is a well-written protagonist, and I found I continued to root for her even at times she was lashing out or allowing herself to implode or making what might be seen as questionable decisions. The tensions she felt within herself were clear throughout - should she placate her overbearing and ambitious father, or should she live a life she can enjoy? Does she want to push for prestige and success in her chosen field, or does she want to prioritize happiness? How much of life should be eaten up by work and achievement? I think these struggles are extremely relatable, particularly as the millennial generation grapples with the economic fallout of the pandemic. Morgan Rogers wrote these struggles with understanding and sensitivity, and did not shy away from the occasional darkness of mental health struggles.

I loved Yuki, Grace's wife as well. In particular, Yuki's presence brought the metaphors around monsters and lonely creatures which I thought were woven in beautifully to the text. The found family in this book, both Yuki's roommates and Grace's friends in Portland were beautifully supportive and flawed humans. 

This book is sticking with me, having finished it a little while ago. It touched and moved me and I will look forward to reading more by Morgan Rogers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Racism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol

flyingryndeer's review

reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Medical trauma and Racism

Minor: Emotional abuse, War, and Homophobia

kshertz's review

reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I thought it was a great story of figuring out who you are once you are on your own and away from your parents. It’s interesting that she was her truest self intoxicated and then had to come around back to that self sober and found it so much harder to do. I think the love story is sweet, not enough of it in the book in my opinion. But it’s not really a romance per se. It’s a finding your place in the world and your tribe kind of book. I enjoyed it but it was something where I zoned out sometimes and didn’t feel like I needed to go back to understand what was happening.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Racism

aexileigh's review

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective sad 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: Self harm, Racism, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Medical trauma

olliebranch1's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I really wanted to like this book and it started off promising. But even  as a self proclaimed hopeless romantic the language in this book was way too flowery for me. There’s just nobody in the world who speaks this way which kind of took me out of trying to relate to this character. 

Grace, our main character’s best friends were meant to be seen as the strong, empowering and messy individuals, but in some ways they just seemed toxic. One friend in particular seemed quite ab*sive  to the point where it was hard to see her good. Also the whole I love you so much it hurts thing is exactly what I don’t want younger readers to be reading. Codependency is not a good thing kids.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Toxic friendship

sarah984's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

I can see why other people like this book and I do think some of the commentary on race and perfectionism is worthwhile, but I just did not like this book at all. 

The writing style is very florid and full of repetition (yes she smells like sea salt I KNOW) and annoying fanfic tropes (they keep calling each other by their full names??). The main character is an astronomer but does no astronomy in the book, barely thinks about it despite apparently loving it, and doesn't seem to know why she liked it in the first place. The one piece of "astronomy" in the book (aside from some poetic "you are made of star stuff" nonsense) is a paraphrase of an annoying Tumblr post about a mars rover. I think this felt so glaring to me because I read "The Disordered Cosmos" so recently and it's by an author who is theoretically so similar to this character - a Black lgbtq+ astrophysicist - but had such a strong enthusiasm for the subject matter.

The characters are mostly meant to be pushing thirty but all read very young and immature. There's a character who is a candy striper or something who reveals someone’s private medical details without their consent and no one cares. The love interest is essentially a manic pixie dream girl (also she's Japanese and this is handled very weirdly) and loves the main character even though she treats her badly. The whole thing kind of feels like a fantasy where everyone else puts aside their problems to hold your hand - no other characters’ issues that are brought up are resolved. It also feels like every character just sort of parrots the author’s political opinions despite their actual situation - the main character living off her parents’ money (she's 29 and her dad is paying her rent!) is required to make the plot work but she's joking around about how she's a broke millennial who will never be able to retire and ragging on people with "generational wealth".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, and Medical content

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

courtnoodles's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Abandonment, Racism, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Cursing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, and Misogyny