tullyndmom's review
challenging
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
5.0
This is the kind of mental health and neurodivergence representation we need in books!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Sexual content
yilliun's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I have spent much of my early adult life living in Chicago, so this book felt doubly real to me. I cried, I laughed (pride and prejudice reference anyone?), and most importantly I fell in love with these beautifully complex characters.
Regan with her anxious attachment and self destructive tendencies felt like I was reading about myself at times. She struggles to connect with the world around her and her struggles felt so honest to me as a reader. I am so glad I picked up this book. One of my top reads this year.
Regan with her anxious attachment and self destructive tendencies felt like I was reading about myself at times. She struggles to connect with the world around her and her struggles felt so honest to me as a reader. I am so glad I picked up this book. One of my top reads this year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Addiction
Minor: Grief
This book deals heavily with toxic parental and romantic relationships. It also centers on two characters dealing with what it means to be mentally ill and also trying to be a good person.arturo_luzen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Cursing, and Classism
katiesbeengone's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Domestic abuse
jco1016's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content
embelle's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I don’t even know what to write for this review, as I still haven’t fully processed this book. I feel like I could read this book 5 times and still not be able to process it. I’m convinced that this book is unlike anything I’ve ever read before or anything that I’ll ever read in the future. Just wow wow wow. The Acknowledgements from Olivia Blake also totally had me in my feelings too
Content Warnings
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, and Cursing
Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
annamay1021's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Addiction
Moderate: Drug abuse
lucielockettreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Spoiler
I feel bad for rating it so low because it might just be the writing style that doesn’t work for me, but I did not enjoy this book.There were snippets I read and it did feel deep and philosophical, as though Blake herself was peering into my soul and wrote the words on paper. Then all the other parts, they just… muddled together. I started skipping pages and pages of waffle which of course is charlottes mania. But the message to do with mental health therapy and TAKING MEDICATION I hated. I study psychology and counselling at university and there is absolutely in my mind a support for therapy, and sometimes medical intervention where therapy is not effective enough, this story says screw therapy and screw my meds!
I understand that the FMC is bipolar and maybe that’s why she never bought it up but the therapist should of saw them signs earlier.
Also aldo and his father are a wonderful story and I actually enjoyed it mostly when they were talking to each other
Also also, sex doesn’t heal everything!!!!!!
TLDR; not my type of genre, which I learnt through reading this, and the writing style… some good moments but a lot was not, although that does relate to the FMC personality.
Check trigger warnings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Infidelity, Murder, Drug abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction
ninahuynh's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"A Love Story". Turmoil and recognition. Love and addiction. Lost and denial. Yearning and fear. Regan and Aldo's relationship has more waves than the ocean. While they both understand their own flaws, they're both volatile and have so much inner turmoil that many of us may recognize in ourselves and relate to. While they seem to be opposites, their polarity is what brings them together.
As much as I don't want to like it, their relatability (inner dialogue) is what keeps me chewing through. That acknowledgement!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual content, Drug use, and Mental illness
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
jbellomy's review
emotional
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
3.0
Torn. The more I think about it, the more I dislike it -- it's like if an early 2010s NLOG watched Garden State and thought, "hey, I bet I could make that angstier." The messaging is icky, the format is needlessly convoluted (form following function? Olivie Blake could NEVER), the dialogue in the first half is so so stilted and offensively twee. The male lead literally does the Augustus Waters thing, but instead of a cigarette, it's a joint that he *doesn't* smoke! (OKAY FINE he does it for a different reason. But in the acknowledgements Blake states that the first image she had of the character was ~a guy who's not smoking the joint he's holding~ and I'm like girl. You obviously watched/read The Fault in Our Stars and the most iconic, silly, parodied-to-death character quirk stuck in your brain and eventually your subconscious convinced you the idea was yours. HOW did no editor catch this. HOW.) (I know it was originally self published but dear god why didn't someone take this out of the final version.) However. There were some moments I really loved (e.g. the church scene kicked absolute ass). It's interesting that most of the negative reviews praise the first half of the book, but I much preferred the latter half. Blake captures the early throws of romantic obsession so well. There were scenes that fully transported me back to my high school relationship, which is wild since these characters are in their mid-late 20's, and, judging by the ending, Blake does not seem to be aware that their relationship is dangerously codependent. Troubling, but what can you do? They're so misunderstood and unique and they simply must let their freak flags fly/ignore all other flags, namely red ones, and dive head first into their all-consuming love! Seriously though, Regan and Aldo think they're hot shit because they've got quirky names and they're malnourished insomniacs and they're mentally ill and have special interests -- like half the book is them saying to each other how different from the rest of the world they both are -- but has anyone told them about the internet?? We're all in the DSM here. Maybe you're not different. Maybe one of you is just kind of rude, and one of you is just kind of mean, and that's fine, but it is not aspirational or romantic. BUUUUT at the same time, *I'm* a kind of rude, kind of mean, mentally ill obsessive freak, and I also get even more insane when I fall in love with someone, so, like, relatable content I guess.* I was an early 2010s tumblr NLOG. And I kinda like Garden State. I'm not going to read the Atlas Six because I cannot stand another second of Olivie Blake's clumsy pontificating about bees or math or philosophy or time or whatever she thinks will make her self-inserts sound smart, but I'm not leaving this book with 100% negative feelings. Tl;dr no regrets about having read this; would not recommend to anyone I respect.
*Regan is out here representing the neurodivergent trust fund babies who are fully incapable of holding down a real job. Though I do not approve of her male manipulator ways, gotta appreciate the rep. She just like me for real.
*Regan is out here representing the neurodivergent trust fund babies who are fully incapable of holding down a real job. Though I do not approve of her male manipulator ways, gotta appreciate the rep. She just like me for real.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity
Minor: Addiction, Suicide attempt, Classism, Violence, and Blood