Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Yerba Buena

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

64 reviews

andreadelo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.75

Simple yet reflective. I picked this up expecting mainly a romance but found two stories about the difficulties of finding oneself. I liked the bittersweet moral but sometimes the book felt a bit too on the nose with its metaphors, sometimes explaining instead of describing.

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tortillacat's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad

4.0

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lwarburton's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

First 50 pages is intense but after that the story settles in. Not what I expected at all - definitely not just a love story - but really enjoyed the story and the growth of the two flawed but relatable main characters.

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biblioghoul's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

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bloomedc's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

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cabeswaters's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

3.5

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dominic_t's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

3.5

This book was really good, but the author made some structural choices that made the book less enjoyable to read.

I knew that trauma was involved with Sara's backstory, but I was not expecting the emotional impact of the opening of the book.

Sara's first love (Annie) is found dead in the river, and her dad told Sara that Annie would be found there. Sara ran away after that. I certainly don't blame her.

The book switches between Sara's and Emilie's perspectives. I really liked seeing the world through their alternating perspectives. However, it was really uneven. We would get really long stretches of hearing from only one character, and then there were parts of the book that quickly alternated between the two of them. I would have liked to see the viewpoints switch more often.

I did like the long stretch of Sara's viewpoint when she was traveling back to her hometown after her father's death. That really highlighted how alone she felt. But other than that, I think alternating more frequently would have made the book stronger.

I loved seeing Sara and Emilie together, but the way their relationship started was a bit strange.

They lock eyes and are attracted to each other, but Emilie is involved with someone else. They have no further interactions until they see each other again a year later after Emilie dumps the previous partner. And the flame immediately ignites! I would have liked more of a buildup. It would have made sense for them to interact occasionally at the restaurant. And I also found it weird that Sara didn't care that Emilie was having an affair with a married man. That wouldn't raise any questions about her character? They just never discussed it. And while we're on the subject of the married boyfriend...I could have done with a lot less of the extramarital affair portion of the book. I would have preferred to see some of those pages dedicated to Emilie and Sara interacting.

I also thought the ending was strange, and I am actually fine with ambiguous endings.

The ending basically talks about Emilie being afraid that she and Sara are trapped in this cycle of Sara leaving when her pain overwhelms her and then Emilie taking her back. Except that the second example of Sara "leaving" was when she went back home to deal with her father's estate after he died? And then she moved without giving Sara her address? So who is really the unreliable person here? She left this really needy voice-mail on Sara's phone after Sara left, and then moved away and left no forwarding address. That is a super shitty way to treat someone you supposedly love when they are dealing with really complicated grief. Typing all this out actually made me mad enough to knock this down half a point.

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