Reviews tagging 'Racism'

La fille d'à côté by Mariana Zapata

15 reviews

abicaro17's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad 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

Mariana puts out bangers only. Diana is a single hairstylist who has custody of her recently deceased brother's kids. Dallas is her grumpy and married (but separated) neighbor. After saving his brother from getting mugged, Diana and Dallas gradually become friends. This is the slow burn of slow burns baby. Like 3/4 of the book was like hugging and stolen glances. Between the adorable family/bonding moments between Di and the kids, Dallas and his knitting, and the insane chemistry it was hard to put down. I laughed, I cried, I giggled and I would definitely read again! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

adub345's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

This was too much slow and not enough burn. 

they didn't even kiss until over 80% in.

the one spicy scene we did get was very cringey to me. It almost felt like the author was afraid to use any actual words for body parts with lines like "the place my underwear had uncovered" and "skewering my body with his"

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Racism

frankiereadstoomuch's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Grief

hapalyn's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

4.0

This one was definitely high on my list of Mariana's books! 

Read for: 
-Minor character crossovers! (Kulti, The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, and Under Locke) it was cute to see Sal/Reiner, Vanessa/Adrien, and the brief brief mention of Iris/Dex! 
-Slowwww burn (of course) 
-Single mom
-Mexican rep 

Bonuses I loved:
-No 3rd act breakup!!!!!!! Mariana is alwaaaays amazing at having realistic conflict without a ton of miscommunication and ridiculous breakups <33!! Loved the lack of drama in this book. 

The relationship between these characters was fleshed out so so well and the kids surprisingly were also super fun and enjoyable to read about (as someone who hates pregnancy tropes and stuff! there's no pregnancy trope aside from epilogue). If you can enjoy a slow 400+ pages of relationship building then this book is 100% for you! If you hate long romances, this isn't going to be for you (and I'd recommend Devney Perry's work instead). However, this book is worth the 400+ :)! So so enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

apolen's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

smuttymcbookface's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racism and Suicide

cb4242's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

3.75

I read it in 12 hours so that has to mean something. I def liked Rhodes better but I loved Josh and Louie in this, they were so adorable 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Drug abuse

Minor: Racism

steelerl828's review against another edition

emotional funny sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Grief

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Racism, Vomit, and Abandonment

michmoo's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Drug use, Racism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

venetiana's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The slow burn is good. But there's also some toxic/red flag behaviour which really didn't need to be there (it literally didn't need to be part of the plot, this was used for accentuating loyalty).

[The author also (afaik) appropriates the term "spirit animal" and I'm not sure how far the lines are blurred concerning colloquialisms. Some expressions rubbed me the wrong way.]

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Infidelity, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Stalking