Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

32 reviews

seventhswan's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

I loved both of the main characters in this book. From their first introduction, Sara and Emilie felt extremely real and multifaceted, as did their family members (I also particularly liked Colette and Spencer, and think the exploration of sibling relationships throughout the book was strong). I also enjoyed the plot, once the first few chapters were out the way. I wish the story would have started with Sara and Emilie as adults, and delved into their backstories later on, rather than opening with lengthy infodumps about their traumatic childhoods. These were so dark, particularly in Sara's case, that the amount of detailed telling didn't match the rest of the story and had a Jacqueline Wilson-esque feel about them.

I'm glad I pushed through the opening chapters because I did like the rest of the story - I found the central romance enticing and believable, thought the setting really came to life, and was pleased by the ending, which was conclusive without being too neat. Unfortunately, I *hated* the writing style. I can't explain exactly what was so off-putting about it, and I suspect it's a matter of personal preference rather than anything technically wrong with it, but it has made me not want to read another of LaCour's novels despite enjoying the storyline.

I would recommend this book to fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid; it reminded me of Malibu Rising especially. If it weren't for the opening, this would be a fun summer-book-club style read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Alcohol

aurorareads_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

Ahh so much pain in this book that sometimes it made it hard to read. But truly life hits you that way sometimes and I think the way both main characters dealt with life and its challenges was realistic. Frustrating at times but realistic. 

In their universe I hope they find ways to heal together and live a happy life forever. 

Side note: I want to try Sara’s cocktails 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, and Sexual assault

emmaclairereads's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

intearsaboutrobots's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

not my usual but sooo glad i picked it up. plenty of lines and moments that will stick w me

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug abuse

republicofben's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

What an incredible, reflective book! This isn't just a romance novel, plus one could argue the romance isn't actually the main focus of Sara and Emilie's stories. This book had a much more serious, sad tone than I expected, particularly early on. Make sure you go into this book looking for this kind of story, but I'm the right mindset it's a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Abandonment

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

littki's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

cbrown3333's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I listened to the whole audiobook on a long road trip. It was a page turner. I appreciated that this was a love story about sibling love too. I found the siblings’ relationships very interesting. Even though I was rooting for the couple the whole time, in the end their love story left me feeling unsatisfied.

I thought the racial and class aspects were underdeveloped, especially. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Sexual assault

rayannotates's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

meg_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.5

I really genuinely loved this. As per usual, with most books that I love a whole lot, I have a hard time articulating why. This was beautifully written and reading from these character's perspectives hurt. I felt so connected to Emilie and her family dynamic and her feelings of purposelessness. I also felt so connected to Sarah because her story was so tragically realistic and complicated. I loved these two women and their intertwining stories and the ways in which they grew into themselves and grew into loving one another. I also feel like this book had one of my favorite niche traits, which is soulmate energy. Not overt soulmates, but like these people are so deeply connected from the jump. From the moment their eyes meet or they speak to one another, or they touch and then there is no going back because the world is changed and there is this unexplainable deep connection to this other person. Never explicitly written on the page that they're soulmates, but it has that energy. I love that shit. This was just such a beautiful and painful book and I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent