Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

4 reviews

oz2021's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Infidelity

yleavy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

2.75

Some sweet moments, and I can see why people like this book. The characters all have moments of charm in that “uni student who thinks they are quirky” sort of way. The dialogue felt like it was coming from an afterschool special, with the characters using therapy words or helping each other reach a profound revelation in every conversation. Without the tense changes, the characters’ POVs would be difficult to tell apart, and the analogies were often more distracting than fitting. Examples include “our tongues shook hands” and “my heart grows thicker”. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Vomit, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

joensign's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Transphobia, Grief, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Car accident, and Death of parent

evfav's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

I was completely engrossed in this book, I’ve never finished anything so quickly because I was always wanting to pick it up and every time I did I got lost in it’s pages for hours at a time. This story broke my heart in all the ways I expected and some more that I didn’t. Every character revealed vulnerability and depth and felt so real. The way Tom and Ming’s relationship developed felt so natural and warmed and broke my heart. This was an amazing story about self discovery, learning to love yourself, and the hardships of growing into a chaotic world, but it was always grounded in the important lasting friendships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Terminal illness