Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Up in Flames by Eden Finley, Saxon James

21 reviews

madhightopp's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cursing and Death

maddie_0930's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

God I wished I liked this book more than I did. I loved the way they tackled domestic abuse and the fear most men have about speaking out, but in general this book didn’t do it for me. It felt a little dragged on. But do NOT underestimate how beautifully this book discusses emotional abuse. I love that the Authors used realistic approaches and really made you feel for the character. Most people think abuse is only abuse if it is physical or sexual, and this book proves that wrong. They could never make me hate you Eden Finely and Saxon James 🫶🫶

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol

niamhstorme's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child death

hexagonal_flowers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

ruthiedr89's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, and Grief

Minor: Bullying

20sidedbi's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity

galleytrot's review

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

3.75

READ: Dec 2023 

FORMAT: Audio

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 3.75 / 5⭐ 

TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 3.75 / 5⭐
FINAL – OVERALL: 3.75 / 5 ⭐ 

After being left at the altar, Remy can see no reason why he shouldn’t go along with Sanden’s suggestion of turning the wedding reception into a “petty party” on Eman’s dime, then going on the honeymoon anyway – with Sanden at his side instead of Eman. It’s not all sunshine and roses once they return home and to their respective lives, though, because Eman has left a much larger stain on Remy’s life than he was willing to notice, and Sanden is haunted by his own traumas that keep him stuck in an unhealthy loop of duty and guilt. The pair must figure out their own problems before they become dangerously co-dependent and bring each other down. 

This book held a more serious tone and more sensitive subject matter than I’m used to seeing from either James or Finley, but it still managed to maintain a note of good humor and never felt angsty or cruel. My biggest gripe about it was the way hockey was shoehorned into it at just about any opportunity, as if this book exists as an advertisement for the author-duo’s Puckboy series. Yes, this book’s main characters were all introduced in Aleks and Gabe’s book, so it’s reasonable they show up in Sandon and Remy’s, but the focus could have leaned more strongly on relationship support over the game itself. I found it very out-of-place. 

The narrators did a good enough job on this one, but I honestly had a hard time distinguishing between the two of them, on top of neither picking particularly distinct voices – this was occasionally a problem in that I wasn’t always clear who was speaking. As a side-note, I think I’ve heard Gabe through a total of six different narrators by now over two different series plus this standalone, so my brain has no clear voice for him at all. 

This book has representation for gays. A single character’s name implies they aren’t white, but they are used as the villain of this book. There is otherwise little else in the way of diversity. 

The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.

This book contains:

alcohol use; implications and accusations of infidelity; emergency response situations resulting in deaths and injuries ranging from mild to severe, including vehicular pileup and fire; injury descriptions including mention of shock, impalement, lacerations, head injuries, etc.; discussions of handling death and grief as first responders; past death of a young family member (house fire); grief, survivor’s guilt; gaslighting, toxic relationship and friendship, emotionally manipulative and abusive relationship; domestic incident, threat of violence, intimidation; and, off-page death of parent (for a minor character).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Gore, Blood, and Death of parent

pitsikakku's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Grief, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

trayslays's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity

pettie's review

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment