Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan

13 reviews

louiepotterbook's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexism, Racism, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

readbycarina's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Addiction, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, and Car accident

icieri's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Drug abuse, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Addiction, Car accident, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

lhartjed's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

This book is definitely better than many of the same genre, however it doesn’t do nearly enough to justify how twisted it attempts to sell itself as. The back and forth of the time jumps keeps the book exciting, and it’s a shame it ends when it does. The ending feels ambiguous compared to what the book jacket declares, and the years, decade, between when Cassidy’s journal ends and her suicide is really what’s missing to sell the premise. Better than other books of the genre but not totally satisfying in its conclusion. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Cancer

Moderate: Terminal illness and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide

mariahcervelli's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

The plot I read before I actually read the book was gratifying. When I opened the first page I wanted to know how far it was going to get into those topics, there was small tangents and tid bits mostly from cassidy, and there was some depth to it, I just don’t think there was a ton of depth for any of the other gloss girls pov’s in the book. This book is the unraveling of Cassidy holmes so i think it showed it well. But, with the alongside of the other Pov’s I didn’t really like the some of the gloss girls if you think about their actions throughout the book. Rose had some secrets and they were unexpected but her development as a character never really hit, she was still the same until the last few chapters. Back to Cassies death. The real question is how exactly did she die? and another question is Why was the ending that? I honestly didn’t like the ending, the book didn’t tell me how she committed it just gave us hints at her depression which isn’t bad i just thought the entire premise of the book was about that. I felt super bad for Cassie and she made mistakes along the way but she was honestly trying her best. I wish they touched base with Cassie’s sexuality and her relationship she had (no spoilers) rather than it be constant denying. I didn’t care for Merry’s daughter and she honestly was kind of a bad person regardless of the information she was looking for and there was no big discoveries in the entire book. But I actually enjoyed hearing about her in her gloss days and sometimes it was super entertaining! This isn’t a bad review I just had the wrong expectations! 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Infidelity, Addiction, and Cancer

avabudavari's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Physical abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Outing, Cancer, Abortion, and Animal death

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark sad 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

2.0

One star for competent writing, one star for prominent queer rep. If this had been marketed as YA instead of adult, I might have had different expectations. 

Maybe I'm just too old for immature teen drama, but I found all the characters offputting and unlikeable. They are terrible to each other and all think they are in the right, or are responsible for all the wrong in the world. I don't think it's unrealistic, especially in how teen girl performers are exploited, but made it very hard for me to root for any of them or really care how their storylines played out.

I also found the "mystery" of Cassidy's depression confusing. It was neither surprising to me that a character in her position would struggle with mental health for years, nor was there ever a conclusive explanation found for her struggles to justify everyone's bizarre interest/confusion about it.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic friendship, Grief, Sexism, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny

Minor: Drug abuse, Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Cancer, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Biphobia, Infidelity, and Stalking

harleysmiller's review

emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

My first 5 start read of 2022! I absolutely loved this book. I’m a sucker for books about musical groups and this is just so good. It hits a lot of important topics and does so very well. I liked how there were nods to real events/fashion/etc. of the early 2000s. It kept me hooked from the beginning and I definitely recommend !

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Cancer

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Animal death

uwbadgergirl's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide

strickortreat's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Eating disorder, and Homophobia

Minor: Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Rape