Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

17 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

4.75

This might be my favorite time loop book that I've read so far. In spite of how much death there is (that does immediately get undone), I found it to be pretty lighthearted and funny. I liked how chaotic and funny the protagonist was, and how much it emphasized the importance of all the relationships in one's life: family, friends, and romantic partners. Knocking off .25 stars because, as some other reviews said, Kate didn't really seem to have any character flaws. Her main challenge is

her illness, which gets, if not cured, at least less life-threatening by the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Car accident, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content

leahegood's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

Summary
Jack King has a major crush on his best friend. That's a problem because she's dating his other best friend and they're both great people who are great together. But then Jack meets Kate, and his life changes ... changes more than he initially realizes. Kate might just be the love of his life, but meeting her throws him into an inexplicable time loop that shows him how the decisions he makes might just be the difference between life and death.

My Thoughts
I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did. It has a lot of good ingredients, most especially one of the most engaging and endearing character/narrator voices I've read in a while. The way Jack expressed himself (aka, the author's writing style for his character) was great, and Jack himself was refreshingly nerdy and comfortable in his own skin. However, I just couldn't get myself engaged with the story.

I went in hoping this would bear similarities to In 27 Days, but the only real similarity is the broad story concept of going back in time to try to prevent a death. That was the first strike against it for me, through no fault of its own. However, I also found a common complaint about time loop stories to be true. The time loop factor made most of the loops feel irrelevant. The stakes are high, sure. But there's enough story left that you know it's going to loop again. I did enjoy the final two loops, but that was after struggling through most of the book, seriously considering DNFing along the way.

Finally, I wish there had been less swearing. I know high schoolers swear, and I get that there's an argument to be made for realism. But..meh.

I'm sure this book resonates with many readers. It just didn't click for me.

Content
As mentioned, there was a lot of swearing in this story. 

Romantic content was primarily undescribed kissing, occasionally escalating to making out. Characters routine joke and tease about going all the way (usually through various euphemisms). In a few scenes, characters cuddle laying on a couch or bed. 

Injuries and medical content are non-graphic and minimally described. There is underage drinking and even potential implication of underage alcoholism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Medical content, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, Islamophobia, Medical content, and Grief

modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Pros: The focus on friend-love and friends-as-family was good. Time loop plots are always fun and this was a good example of that.

Less a con, more that it's "not for me": Sometimes the teenagers act like teenagers in a way that activated my secondhand embarrassment hardcore. Less a criticism, more a warning that those prone to such feelings might cringe at a few sections.

Con: Kate was SEVERELY manic pixie dream girl'd in her characterization. That's the biggest factor that knocked this book down a few pegs. 

I'd say this is overall a pretty good book and worth reading, but the Kate characterization could've been better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Racism, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Car accident and Alcohol

Cursing: Two f-words that I can remember. Gun violence/hate crime/murder/racism: Occurs in the

fourth loop; one character is shot for wearing a hoodie and being non-white in an upper-class neighborhood.

Infidelity:

Also occurs in the fourth loop.

There is onscreen kissing, bed-sharing, no explicit sex though. Family troubles (divorce, paternal abandonment) are recurring plot issues.

ellahoward_'s review

funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

This book grew on me. It felt like a YA ‘about time’ story, that was cute and endearing. I also liked how the author split the book into chapters that flowed in the story. 
TW: gun violence, racism, hate crime, police brutality. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality

jesse_5's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

It is an amazing story but I did find the first few chapters a bit hard to follow due to the time junping about so muc

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime, Stalking, and Abandonment

one of the main characters has sickle cell and dies multiple times due to it. This is the main theme of the book. In one section there is a very toxic friendship and a character gets shot (he is ok) for being on someone’s property A character has a deadbeat dad who essentially abandoned him In one section of the book there is a minor theme of stalking as Jack decides to anonymously help Kate and spies on her to check treatment is working

bujo_bellel's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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

3.5

I quite liked this book, it was rather slow at the start which I think could have been made quicker. I liked the build-up and how it teaches us the morale that time is precious and that we should never give up. I quite like the relationship between Jack and Kate. I really hate the pet name (baby) that Franny and Jillian called each other which is one of my pet peeves. This book was kind-of anti-climatic but it might be because I was reading this book for a long time and thus was in this world for very long.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Racism, Terminal illness, and Abandonment

Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, and Alcohol

peachmoni's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Car accident

Minor: Infidelity and Violence

ludmireads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Giving this book 4 stars because I think this is what I’d rate it when I was 17 (a. k. a. when I was the target audience). 
I didn’t enjoy this book as much now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, and Medical content

nerdysread's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

A good book. What really makes it work is the relationships between the characters 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Terminal illness

grizzlysnack's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

The good things about this book:

• the concept
• Jack's support system

The bad things about this book:

• the execution of concept
• characters
• character interactions & dialogue

This book is very forgettable, to be honest. If I didn't write out the different scenes for this review and journal entries I probably wouldn't be able to tell you anything significant from the plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical content

Moderate: Chronic illness and Terminal illness

Minor: Gun violence, Car accident, and Alcohol

Part 4 was by far the worst piece of text I've read in a good while. The rest of the book wasn't AS BAD but the rest of it was still bad