Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans

12 reviews

ashylibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything is so much more than a murder mystery. Justine Pucella Winans has crafted a unique storyline with funny, important, and meaningful themes and discussions. 

Bianca works through their fears and questions and challenges who they want to be. Oh, and while doing this, the author throws in a slightly absurd, birdie murder mystery that Bianca witnesses and  is now determined to uncover. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Murder, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Violence, and Kidnapping

bottleofink's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, and Vomit

aceofknives's review

adventurous funny mysterious 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

5.0

Super cute YA story of nonbinary discovery set against a murderous brid cult mystery. Friendship, found family, and acceptance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Deadnaming

Minor: Drug use

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

gxbi's review

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, 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

citrus_seasalt's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Dysphoria

Minor: Drug use and Suicide

shelvesofivy's review

funny hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

I think I'm obsessed. 
Bianca had me laughing out loud from the very first page, crying happy tears a few times in the middle, and laughing some more all throughout. 
As for the mystery aspect, I definitely predicted the main big bads, but it never retracted from the experience. There was just the right balance of danger and goofiness. 
The characters are where it shines though!! Bianca is an incredible pov character, from their humor, to their love for the people around them, to their very real fears, and to overcoming them while still being afraid ♡ 
I'm a self-proclaimed crybaby with books, and the moments of friendship and found family had me in tears ♡

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Torture, Transphobia, Vomit, and Stalking

pinesandpages's review against another edition

5.0

This review is essentially a list of things I liked a lot. Vibes off the chart for this book. Highly recommend, tho it’s weird and quite niche. 

Lots of little great moments:
•great chapter titles
• The lesbian sheep explanation and then throughline  
• watching Anderson and Bianca get closer and deepen their friendship. He’s a great friend and I also liked the Coleman family dynamics 
•The fact that they dubbed it “Feathergate” 😂
• Lots of great little amusing asides from Bianca’s POV. I enjoyed the incorporation of Bianca’s numbered fears scattered throughout, that was a fun addition. 
• I also like watching Bianca start the process of figuring out their gender. 
• Also obviously I like all the birding moments, that’s what drew me in in the first place! 
• I also enjoy that we watch Bianca get braver throughout the book. At first they never wanted to leave their bedroom but even halfway through they started branching out and doing small new things. Baby steps! And then by the end! Look at them go! 
• This books combines a deep interest in a lot of weird things: birding, anime, Shakespeare, gender identity exploration, thriller, cults, etc. Not that gender identity exploration or thrillers are weird, but with all of those things combined, this book covers a lot of ground but never in a way that is too much or leaves anything hanging.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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