Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Without Merit by Colleen Hoover

14 reviews

dwdillydally's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny slow-paced

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

3.5

Without Merit (2017) by Collen Hoover
#youngadultfiction #mentalhealth #familydramafiction #slowromance #mildspicy #dwreads24

Finished my first Colleen Hoover book! I wasn't sure that I'd like her flavors (dark modern romance, dysfunctional characters), so I started with a title recommended for teens / young adults. When I say "for teens", this is NOT for tweens / preteens. Here are screenshots of the content warnings I tagged, and I'm happy to elaborate on any of them, if you ask.

Depsite alllllll the CWs listed, I do recommend this to the right teen or to us, non-trendy-readers who are Hoover-curious. If it's too much for you, then you probably won't enjoy Hoover's adult books 

There were so many scenes where I was telling the 17yo main character, "Oh no honey, don't do that. Oh nnnnoo!" 🫣 But overall, this book is about family trauma and mental health - vital to talk about. It's meant to be f_<ed up. How bad can the main character's day-to-day life get before she turns a corner and starts unraveling the mess around her? For me, it was rough to read from the start through the middle, then I slowly came around, and by the end, I was rooting for the main character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Infidelity

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug abuse, Self harm, Confinement, and Animal death

Minor: Abandonment, Car accident, Cancer, Outing, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Eating disorder

samw0327's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Outing and Vomit

anjelicanarvaez's review against another edition

relaxing sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment and Animal death

esther_nwaokoro's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Animal death, Suicide attempt, and Infidelity

Minor: Addiction, Homophobia, Cancer, Incest, Abandonment, and Ableism

graff_fuller's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.75

My daughter, Mathilde sent me this book to read. So, when that happens...you read it.

We have a connection with books. We don't always agree with each other, but usually we "get" each other.

This book is about a dysfunctional family (Married with Children level) that don't communicate with each other. That's us in a way, but I have to say...we are NOT this bad. Promise.

They live in a church...which is divided into four partitions. Father/new wife, older son, Merit and Honor. Their's an office in there, too. 

I liked the twin sisters storyline (Merit/Honor). They are are polar opposites in personality, Older brother that is aloof, Father/husband that seems spiteful and careless. His new wife lives on the first floor with their youngest son (and the rest of the family), while his ex-wife lives in the basement (but never comes up). Then add to the mix a friend named Sagan and a drifter who arrives at the house unannounced named Luck.

Also, the names in this book are very exotic. Utah, Merit, Honour, Moby, Barnaby, Victoria (twice), Sagan and Luck. Really? This is a menagerie of names. Not one that seems real.

The story deals with depression, and the struggles with a family that doesn't communicate, which complicates EVERYONEof their lives in individual ways.. 

This was FAST read. I immediately loved the protagonist, Merit. I knew that the title of the book would have significance (and it did). Also a great reveal towards the end of the book, well played.

I enjoyed the dynamic of the family, though it seemed a little TOO cartoonish, but by the middle of the book...I had been sucked in.

Odd characters would enter this familys orbit, but then find a home there...not just in the house, but they became intrical parts of the story. 

By the end...a poingant story had been told. The problems with miscommunication and how dangerous that can be. AND that we need to find a friend...that will always have our back. 

THis was an odd story, but i enjoyed it. Thanks Mathilde.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Chronic illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death and Alcohol

h0eforb00ks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

missrosymaplemoth's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Outing

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Cancer, and Death

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Vomit

evie_dora's review against another edition

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

i cannot put into words how messed up this whole book was.

we find out that Merit’s mum has an illness and lives in the basement of the house, while the rest of the family - including the mother’s carer who Merit’s father now has a child with - lives in the upper levels of the house. we later discover that merit’s mother actually suffers from a mental illness which makes her believe she suffers from a purely physical illness. the mother is repeatedly portrayed as villainous for her behaviour - and while i am not denying mentally ill parents can have a negative effect on their children, i do not like how the mother was treated because of her illness. merit almost loses her virginity to her step-uncle. she also kisses a guy who she believes to her twin sister’s boyfriend. when merit attempts su!c!de (for which there were NO content warnings that i could find) she writes letters to everyone living in the house outing all their secrets. this includes her brother’s - he sexually assaulted her when she was younger, and in turn, she outs him as gay to her entire family. all in all, this book was horrific.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Mental illness, Sexual content, Outing, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Infidelity, and Grief

Moderate: Incest and Animal death

Minor: Drug abuse

there was no content warning for the su!cide attempt, nor for any of the other possibly harmful content.

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Sexual assault, Medical content, Outing, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Biphobia and Homophobia

sophiecglenn's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Chronic illness, and Animal death