Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Chaos Theory by Nic Stone

10 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed Nic Stone’s previous work. This year, I have been trying to read more books from authors I previously enjoyed. I love the Dear Martin series and saw this book in Waterstones and decided to read more of her work. 

This book is based on two points of view. The first is Shelbi and since she has enrolled at Windward Academy as a senior and won’t be there very long, she hasn’t bothered making friends. What her classmates don’t know about her can’t be used to hurt her, you know like it did at her last school. The second point of view is Andy and he is not okay. At all. He's had far too much to drink. Again, which is bad. And things are about to get worse. When Shelbi sees Andy at his lowest, she can relate. So she doesn’t resist reaching out. And there’s no doubt their connection has them both seeing stars, but the closer they get, the more the past threatens to pull their universes apart.  

Everyone should read this book, I don’t care if you are a child, a young adult, a new adult or in your fifties or sixties. Read this book. It is such a good book based on bipolar disorder, mental health, grief of a sibling and alcoholism within young adults. I love how this book is a young adult book, but Nic doesn’t talk down about the importance of mental health. I loved Shelby and Andy, I wanted to hug them both throughout the book and wanted to let them know they are both important and loved. I am also really glad this book didn’t end with suicide, like I thought it was going to.  

It took me a while to get into this book mainly because I wanted to smack the shit out of the parents. Also, I would have loved for them to have a happy ending. A fully-blown reunion rather than the text message epilogue. 

Also, thank God, for having a character after my name that isn’t a complete tool like Becky Bloomwood, because I never thought I would read about a character named Becky that I liked and didn’t want to punch.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Self harm

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, and Abortion

Minor: Miscarriage, Car accident, and Pregnancy

bethany6788's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

Nic Stone is one of the best YA lit writers out there. Y’all, she is changing the game. I found her with Dear Martin and I’ve loved her since. This book ripped my heart out and broke it, and put it back together. That authors note in between the end and epilogue had me crying. 

Alcoholism is real. I’m sober just over 16 months and some of the things Andy (Walter) says and does in this book gave me shivers. Drinking alone, drinking to escape, drinking because he can’t deal with what’s going on. It’s extremely relatable. And Shelbi! My girl. Dealing with so much of her mental health struggles and doing her best to keep and set boundaries.

I implore you to read this book. And then go read Nic’s other books. 

Thank you Nic Stone for writing this one. It hit home in the toughest ways, but it’s what I needed tonight. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Child death, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Car accident, and Pregnancy

jaz_gets_literary's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity and Vomit

Minor: Bullying, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Pregnancy

khaylam's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Self harm, and Alcohol

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Miscarriage, Abortion, and Pregnancy

jennneely82's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

4.25

Another good one written by Nic Stone. In this book she tackles mental illness and alcoholism and how it affects a relationship between two recent high school graduates.  Open your heart and mind to people struggling with illnesses and diseases you may not understand. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Self harm, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, and Abortion

Minor: Car accident and Pregnancy

purplepenning's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Super fast read and one of the best portrayals of young love and mental health struggles I've seen in YA. I love how smart and talented these main characters are and how even the secondary characters get nuanced, realistic portrayals.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Vomit, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

laheath's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.25

Excellent dual POV representation of mental illness (like the author, I hate that term too), as 2 teens also deal with all the normal pressures of school, family, and romance. Their individual stories are actually more complicated than average, including a parent running for political office, death of a sibling, changing schools 3 times in as many years plus a cross-country move, and having a parent famous for writing steamy urban romance novels. One of them already knows how to protect herself and isn't ready to let anyone else in and the other needs someone to show him he's worthy of being loved before he goes too far in hurting himself or someone else. Great characters in their support systems too, although one had too many issues of her own to be helpful.

I was so glad to hear the author's note included in the audiobook. Heads up, for those who usually skip this, the story continues after this, so don't think it ended abruptly (can't say if the format is the same in the print version).

Lots of trigger warnings for this book, so read with caution, as the author mentions in her intro note. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

jessicaludden's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted tense 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

3.0

“People aren’t put on this earth to meet your expectations.”

Chaos Theory follows the growing friendship and romance between Shelby and Andy who are both dealing with their own unique mental illnesses.

This book has such an important message surrounding the stigmatization of mental health issues. I think the mental health representation was written really well. Each character was portrayed very realistically and it was interesting to see how the way their brains function impacted who they were and the people they cared about it. This story was a good way to learn about how different people navigate through life differently. The author does a great job of depicting the reality of mental illness while also not making it a big scary thing that’s sets people apart. I loved seeing Shelbi and Andy’s relationship grow slowly over time and how they were able to find themselves together. Overall I liked this and I liked its message, but there was a lot going on and the dialogue was a little cheesy.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an ARC of this book!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Alcohol