Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

This Is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves

25 reviews

lqvekanej's review against another edition

funny 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol and Vomit

tkhenry99's review against another edition

3.0

3 stars is probably generous

the writing is really weird and cringey a lot of the time. there are random scenes that almost make it feel like the author is tackling too much (like when quique reflects on his “dad bod” for the first time, or the accidentally arranging a hook up with a teacher thing, or the crazy/psycho commentary). 

the way quique repeatedly outs several characters was also just. not it. and for some reason randomly reflects on how he doesn’t want to out someone in the middle? as if he hadn’t been doing that all along? 

also, quique probably should’ve been ✨institutionalized✨ for suicidal ideation with a plan…. multiple times….. especially at the end…..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Hate crime, and Alcohol

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Islamophobia, Racism, Biphobia, and Outing

maple_dove's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.25

This book was not what I expected but it didn't disappoint!

I loved the discussions of religious bigotry, and the LGBTQ community and religion. It's a difficult topic to navigate, but I think this book handled it well. 
As an asexual person, I didn't expect this book to be so sexually graphic (mostly in terms of dialogue and thoughts), but I'm glad. We need to let teenagers explore their sexuality, too (safely). 
I can't say the bipolar disorder rep was accurate, as I'm not bipolar myself and don't know enough to say. Speaking of which, I loved all the representation in this book!: Bisexual, Mexican-American, Afro-Latina American, Latino-American, Arab Palestinian-American, and Gay characters can all be found in this book. :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Sexual content, Alcohol, Racism, Biphobia, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Islamophobia, Murder, War, Ableism, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

Homophobic slurs (Graphic), Underage drinking (Graphic), Teenage pregnancy (Minor)

whosbradpitt's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

Quique is trying to get over his love for one of his closest friends by exploring his sexuality with a series of other guys, or "prospects", and finds the journey is rough on his mental health. The mental health discussions are thoughtful and insightful; these were easily my favorite portions. I also appreciated the family dynamics. Referring to other guys he is attracted to as "prospects," anger over being used when he is clearly fine using other people, and

frequent sexual harassment of a favorite teacher!

are a few reasons I asked myself why I was still finishing the book. I think I would have put it down if not for the voice of the narrator, which I enjoyed for most of the characters (the Fabiola voice became grating pretty quickly). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Biphobia, and Islamophobia

lim's review

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Biphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Outing

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Sexualizing underage characters, biphobic stereotypes, Christian supremacist undertones, pro traditional marriage message.

wenwanzhao's review

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.0

This is the kind of awkward, raw, and somehow still lighthearted queer YA novel I don’t think we could’ve gotten a few years ago. What I found most attractive about This Is Why They Hate Us was the premise, the harem concept just isn’t used enough, even though it has a lot of potential. I think this book really accomplished what it set out to do, and I found myself pretty attached to Quique by the end (despite him being a 16 year old mess). Yes, I did find it a bit difficult to get into, and I have grown enough to cringe at how teenagers think, but I think TIWTHU is a worthy YA read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia, Mental illness, Homophobia, Alcohol, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

pey333's review against another edition

emotional funny

• 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

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, and Biphobia

Minor: Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, and Gun violence

raiynnn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Islamophobia

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Mental illness

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Ableism, Biphobia, Islamophobia, Vomit, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Excrement, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Grief, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pedophilia

brokenbodybitch's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I’m still unsure my feelings so I’m going to let it sit for a bit before I do a proper review but I enjoy it with the exception of a few things but my initial thoughts;

There is more sexual content in this book then make me comfortable for something being marketed as a ya book with 17yo characters to 14+…(from what I’ve seen) yes I was reading more graphic stuff younger but something about the frequency and level of detail coupled with the constant reminder they aren’t over 18 yet and it being marketed from what I’ve seen as 14+ just felt off and took me out of the story a quite often. yes, it’s like quite true to reality from what I remember about being 17 and I mean it was only like 3 years ago... but from the way I had seen it marketed it felt like it wasn’t what I would’ve expected. 
 
I really love the mental health rep, the queer rep, I found the book really funny at times and I think the more emotional stuff was handled well (PLEASE CHECK CW/TW) but I just kept getting pulled out of the story so I need to sit with it a bit more or re read now that I know what to expect so I’m not so thrown by it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Biphobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Drug use, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

The narrator/MC is a 17yo boy and there is a fair amount of sexual scenes throughout the book between 17yo’s, they aren’t overly graphic but they are quite frequent and not fade to black. ➖ There is a scene where a friend of his talks about using dating apps while under age and explains how he lies about his age to sleep with older people (adult/minor relationships) and at one point Quique decides to give it a try, there is no adult/minor relations however he does go over to this man’s house and it ends up being someone in a position of power over him, again it is not used and is handled well but the man is

His favourite teacher