Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Iris Kelly Doesn't Date by Ashley Herring Blake

5 reviews

cwbillings's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

“Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date” just warmed me up to romance novels FAST. I’ve never been a huge fan of romance as a genre but man is this book in particular changing my mind! This is well written, the characters believable and genuine, and so gosh darn sweet. I really love this one and found myself relating to the main characters, which I should’ve seen coming as a bisexual writer with a decade of theatre experience myself lol Ugh, what can I say?? Now I’m a Stevie + Iris shipper for life!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

lunep's review against another edition

emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a great book...up until the third act conflict. I was so excited because I was loving it and rooting for Stevie and Iris, they were so cute, so fun, the sex scenes were great, there was angts, but then in the third act conflict Iris lost me. And I feel so mad at myself!! Bc I can think about why she acted the way she acted in a logical way, I understand why she did what she did, but I still think she was unfair to Stevie, and her attitude made me not feel excited at the end 😭😭😭

Like, I even got excited for Stevie when Olivia asked her out!!

, I even tried to think "if Iris was a man and this was a hetero romance, would you feel the same way?" trying to rule out internalized misogyny and tbf...I'm not sure 😩 so that's why I'm still giving it 4 stars, I can't completely rule out internalized misogyny from my feelings and I don't wanna hurt a book that I was genuinely loving up until the 86% mark

There were another couple things I didn't love, but I didn't mind that much:

• The way Adri didn't get any accountability ever. I'm sorry but she was a shitty friend/ex, and I know ending long friendship like theirs is hard, but she never even apologized, and Stevie just accepts it because "she knew everything she needed from Adri she'd already given to herself"
  after telling each other "I love you platonically", and after the fact that the last conversation the two had on the page ammounted to Adri telling Stevie that she wanted her back but she didn't want to break up with Vanessa???
  , nuh uh, sorry
• Iris's family. Also never apologized to her for being so shitty and never understanding her, and her brother seemed so misogynystic?? Making "jokes" about how a Happily Ever After is really a "Shittily Ever After" and other kind of "jokes" like that with his BIL, like, just say you hate your wife and go
• And, the one I ignored the most bc ofc, this is a romance book, and I was actually rooting for them: that I don't love when a MC is constantly telling their family "I don't want to date, I'm happy by myself, I do not need you to set me up on dates, I actually hate it" and their pushy family doesn't accept it only for the MC to, in fact, fall in love/realize that they weren't happy by themself. The petty side in me doesn't like giving the pushy families the satisfaction lmao

But one thing I ADORED were Iris's friends! At first I was a little lost ngl, when they're first introduced via group chat, because I couldn't keep up with who was who and who was with who, but I know that's on me for starting on the last book of the trilogy lmao, and once I was able to keep them straight, they're just the most supportive, lovely group of friends <3 (specially compared to Stevie's 😒 cuz I don't let Vanessa off the hook either, even tho I didn't talk about her when talking about Adri

,but dating your supposed best friend's ex two months after they broke up?? Hell no, not even the "queer spaces are tight knit" excuse can save that for me

. And now that I think about it, Ren felt way more like Stevie's best friend that Vanessa did)

I also LOOOVED Stevie's character growth, at the end, I felt she was the MC more than Iris (tho, since it was dual POV I'm pretty sure they're both of them are MCs, and neither is just "the love interest") because through most of the book I didn't feel like Iris got much development

besides her getting out of her writing slump and becoming more of a romantic

, Stevie FLOURISHED. I might be a little biased tbf, bc I saw myself on Stevie a lot (I don't have an anxiety diagnosis and I don't think I've ever had a panic attack, but a lot of Stevie's problems with one night stands, romance, and confidence I felt applied to me too), but I just think she grew a lot and I loved seeing her stand up for herself

and then moving to NY and, even tho she got anxious sometimes, pushing through it knowing she can do whatever she put her mind to

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

Slut shaming

callidoralblack's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Sexual content

Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use and Grief

mangofraiche's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad fast-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

5.0

TBH, I didn’t think I was going to be very into Iris’ story after reading Delilah and Astrid. I WAS WRONG. 

This was by far my favorite of the Bright Falls trilogy. As a queer-romance-loving theatre geek (who also once swore off dating) it was 100% up my alley. Also, even though I knew Iris was VERY sex-positive and had been throughout the whole series… DAMN. 🥵 AHB took this one to a whole new (absolutely delicious) level. 10/10 🌶️ No notes, only applause. 👏🏻 

Also, I LOVE Stevie Scott. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder rep was fantastic and felt very similar to my own experience - sans the panic-induced 🤮. Panic pukes aside, Stevie is an angel and this is now a Stevie Scott fan account. 

My final Enneagram typing for our Bright Falls girlies:

Delilah: 8w9

Claire: 9w1

Astrid: 1w9

Jordan: 4w5

Iris: 8w7

Stevie: 6w5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use