Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

217 reviews

ienbdri's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual harassment

culown's review

fast-paced

4.0

Petition to have Queenie stop dating men 🤢

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexism, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

pghtaylorsversion's review

fast-paced

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

4.0

This took me a while to get into in hard copy, but I loved the audiobook and finished it in a day once I switched formats. The narrator is excellent, and the book touches on a lot of really important topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

jerricka329's review

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage and Sexual content

applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

Yep, this one was a winner. 
I checked Queenie out thanks to a bookstagram account that claimed the audiobook version was a masterpiece. Niether the author, Candice Carty-Williams, nor the narrator, Shvorne Marks, disappointed. Non-speculative contemporary fiction isn't usually my vibe but the voice acting, humor, tragedy, and occasionally even the joy covered in this story lead me to devour the book in four days flat. The titular Queenie is a deeply flawed woman who makes questionable decisions and has skewed priorities. She is also a woman who's been forced to rise to the occasion time and again, and is physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted by it all. For every misstep Queenie makes, it is ten times more frustrating to watch the world respond to her mere existence.

Spoiler

The pool scene was one of the rawest and most devastating bits of fiction I've consumed in years. It gave a voice to how one person's, particularly one white woman's, casual action can crumble another human.

Also, Shvorne Marks? Talented. Her range of accents and unique voices for each character elevates this book even further. Queenie was everything I didn't know I needed from fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Violence and Toxic friendship

Minor: Fatphobia

jaywithwhiskey's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

Although it did feel kind of long at times, I really enjoyed this book. The theme of mental health care is really important and done in such a genuine and heartbreaking way. We follow Queenie after a breakup through self-destruction and a long road to recovery afterwards. Overall this book is hard to read sometimes due to having to watch the characters go through some hard times, but ultimately it makes you feel warm and it's hilarious and you fall in love with Queenie and her friends and family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexism, Racism, Miscarriage, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Infidelity, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Grief

Minor: Police brutality

pickupthebook's review

challenging emotional 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

4.0

I was not expecting this book to be as heavy as it was - I thought it would be just another fun read about a twenty-something woman finding herself. But the book even starts off heavy, where in the first chapter we find out Queenie is experiencing a miscarriage while going through a break-up with her long-term partner, and she feels like she has no one to talk to. From there, she starts to spiral and eventually hits rock bottom. This book dealt with everything from mental health disorders, abusive relationships, and racism, and I thought the author handled these topics with care (please check content warnings for yourself before reading though, because these topics are all discussed in depth and explicitly!). Despite some of the poor decisions Queenie makes, you can’t help but empathize with her and root for her! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Miscarriage

fkshg8465's review

dark informative slow-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

2.0

This book had a lot of important antiracist themes and a focus on mental health, but it also leaned into the stereotype Black woolen being highly sexualized, which I didn’t love. Dialogue wasn’t great. Not the greatest writing for me. Found myself constantly annoyed. But in the end, when I realized the character was essentially unraveling in front of me one bad decision at a time based on her very little self-value, I was able to find some sympathy for her. 

Content warning for anyone who cares: a lot of worthless sex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual harassment

libraryghost's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Racism, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Fatphobia and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide and Police brutality