Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

71 reviews

madanxiety's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

5.0

"Good Luck, Babe" by Chappell Roan, the good ending.

This is like the book I always wanted to write. But I guess I should still write it because there still aren't enough wlw stories on paper. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Lesbophobia

robinks's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.25

It was lovely to hear Kiyoko narrating her own novel. Having other voice actors and certain sounds within the audiobook was an interesting choice but also ended up taking me out of the story. I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the scenes too.

I also haaaated Sonya’s character, which made Coley’s feelings for her hard to understand, and I’m annoyed that they end up together (though I do appreciate the nod to the Girls Like Girls music video).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

scarletthequeen's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

cherryblossomreads's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

3.0

Wow, okay. I loved how the cast of characters were SO human. So flawed. And I loved the pace of the story.

I did feel a little left hanging in the end, but I suspect that's a preference and not anything to do with the story itself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, and Suicide

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense 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

3.5

I thought this was really a sweet story about initial love and finding out who you are but I really disliked the characters in the story, particularly Sonya and Trenton. I don’t like the way that love is portrayed in some ways, particularly as something that always has elements of harm or hurt. That’s an unhealthy way to describe love, especially to the target audience of this novel which are upper middle/high school aged kids. I didn’t love the ending, because it felt like a cop out. The characters hadn’t changed all that much and they weren’t ready to make the choices they had made — it all felt too sped up. But, Coley and her dad building a relationship out of really negative circumstances was a beautiful plot line. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

amanda_marie's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.75

It was cute! Better and different than expected, with enough of a nod to the music video to be satisfying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, and Death of parent

readingqueerly's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted 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

It's not that I think this book is amazing and everyone should read it. It's just that it made me a little nostalgic for my baby queer days when I watched this music video over and over again. And now, years later Hayley Kiyoko herself actually wrote the story for those two characters. 
Though with that, I must say it was a little underwhelming. I should have known as simple YA romances just don't really hot the same anymore for me. It wasn't bad necessarily, just a little clunky and repetitive at times. I think if this book had come out seven years ago I would have loved it a lot more. For me it's just a little too late to be reading this.
It's a debut novel and it very much feels like a debut novel in YA. It was... Fine I guess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent

elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug use, Suicide, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

gilexia's review against another edition

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? Yes

1.25

I had many problems with this book. I can't list and explain them all, but I'll list my main problems with the book:
First, it's poorly written. After the first few sentences, you know she's not a writer - she may be a writer in progress. I think when you're learning to write, you shouldn't publish your first book. It feels like she did. There are so many problems and rookie mistakes that it wasn't really fun to read. Writing style is a foundation of any book and if it's not good, other things aren't good either. For example: the characters were all rather 2D and stereotypical, the author didn't manage to create a suitable atmosphere in the book and so on.
Now for something more personal. I thought it was going to be an emotional, cozy read...that was wrong. It was a dramatic read. I don't read a lot of romance novels, but every once in a while I like a good cozy romance novel (those are rare, unfortunately). Coley was a miserable daughter, but could be a good lover for Sonya. Only Sonya was a problem. The things Sonya did, I would never forgive her for. I mean...the romance between the two of them was weird and riddled with problems even at the beginning. And there were so many clichés: Coley was instantly in love with Sonya with only one look, Coley felt Sonya all over her skin, she couldn't breathe, couldn't stop thinking about her, blah blah blah. I don't like that and it was already too over the top for me.
The last point is the ending. It was so rushed and so sudden. It didn't feel like an ending. The book just didn't have a good conclusion. It was just weird. 

At least I can say that I love this cover and the song. I really like Hayley Kiyoko as a singer, but as a writer ... I would never read anything by her again, but if she practiced a lot more, she could be a good writer. She wasn't that bad. I just think it was too early for her to publish a book with all the mistakes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

captaincocanutty's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol