Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Black Iris by Elliot Wake

13 reviews

jessicadoom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

3.0

Elliot Wake's books have been on my TBR for years. I started "Bad Boy" way back when and was too busy to actually read it, but figured I should start from the beginning since they tie together. And I'm glad I did! It seems important now that I understand the backstory of how Black Iris was founded.

Overall, I did really enjoy the book. I found myself wanting to do nothing but finish the book, despite all the obstacles in my life that made that difficult and the process a bit drawn out.

The writing was beautifully poetic, and the characters very complex. The only thing that brought this down to a very solid three for me would be that there's simply too much smut for my little demisexual self. A lot of it felt unnecessary, even though I do understand that it helped to seal Laney's characterization. If I was someone else, maybe it wouldn't have bothered me as much.

All that aside, the thrilling twists and turns really did keep me engaged and I can't wait to continue reading the rest of his books!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Dysphoria

medini_l's review against another edition

dark 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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

frogggirl2's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Stereotypical angsty, teenage tropes.  So much homophobia in the near Chicago suburbs in the modern day just doesn't track.  When they mess with Chicago geography its kind of dumb and unnecessary.  The dialog is pretty pat - quoting Emily Dickinson is hardly outré.  I can solve this overwrought, pulpy melodrama in two words: polyamory and therapy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

amandamarieger's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

To say this was dark is an understatement. I think I’m going to need some time to process. I will say though - it’s more of a thriller than I realized, and I didn’t figure that out until about 30% of the way through… so then I needed to know how it ended even though I wasn’t really enjoying the book. My relatively high rating is mostly for the writing. Wake writes BEAUTIFULLY. I could feel everything. I just didn’t love the plot that was formed with the words, lol. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

SO. MANY. CONTENT. WARNINGS.

nicolescottwv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Grief and Stalking

lowercaselettersandnumbers's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Death of parent

randirush's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Hate crime and Rape

Minor: Murder

giuliaprim's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

kept me glued from the start till the fucking end and the plot twists!
Laney is basically Mia Corvere if she was in a contemporary novel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicide, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction and Body shaming

mllesophie's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is better to start whithout knowing to much. I knew there was a sapphic romance, but I would not consider this book a romance. I knew it was weird. I pick this up for a beach read and i wasn't the right vibe but I couldn't stop reading it. This is a dark and twisted story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Grief, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

loganskies's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Violence, and Alcohol