Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans

3 reviews

tbd24's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense 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

4.5

loved this book! funny, surprisingly dark, very realistic. I have not yet read a YA coming out book that is also about other things that doesn’t sound clunky and shoehorned and like the author is afraid of getting cancelled lmao but this book pulls it off! Bianca is a very believable teenager with severe anxiety and on their way to personal self discovery when they witness a murder and are forced to do something about it. I literally laughed out loud at a handful of lines, and call me crazy but i was so delighted when Bianca and Anderson just skip school and smoke weed. We need more teen books about teens who act like teens. Anyway, yes, big fan, I found this book purely through happenstance and I loved every second of it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Police brutality, and Stalking

emily_mh's review

hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Unfortunately I wasn’t super engaged or captivated by this one because of the writing style. The author treats the reader as if they can’t think for themselves; for example, they’ll over-explain a joke, include unnecessary commentary, etc. It just felt too clumsy. Because of the writing style, the overall book was so bloated. Scenes went on for too long and there were scenes that didn’t need to be there at all. It could have been way more investigation-focussed. 

The character development in the MC Bianca was well done, however. The anxiety rep was thorough and it was cool seeing them facing their fears. I also liked seeing them build up their little social spider web of support - very sweet. I do wish Anderson had been given more of an arc; there was room for it regarding his shame around anime but this didn’t go anywhere meaningful. 

I thought the romance was cute! It really encapsulated the shyness of young love, and didn’t distract from the story which was appreciated. I also loved how many times the word lesbian was used. 

But despite these positives, it always came back to the writing style which I never clicked with. 

Rep: lesbian nonbinary MC w anxiety, pansexual Chinese-American LI, queer Black SC, Black trans SC, Black bisexual nonbinary minor character

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Cancer, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: fainting Minor: menstruation, divorce, internalised misogyny

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail