Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Six Times We Almost Kissed (And One Time We Did) by Tess Sharpe

17 reviews

farfetched's review

challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book. I picked it up, thinking 'oh, a cute little sapphic romance, I'll read it then I'll be done with it'. I was fooled. In my defence, it was not really made clear from the outer cover that this cute little sapphic romance was going to tear me apart, in the best kind of way. This is a book about sapphic desire and romance. It is childhood friends to lovers. And it's fanatic at that. But it's also about grief, trauma, and learning to heal. Being there for someone when they need it. Leaning on people. 

This book genuinely blew me away. The writing is fantastic, the turns of phrase are great, I love the way it's structured, going between past and present and referencing things in ways that feel natural, rather than dropping hints. 

Fair to say, I will be keeping this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, and Infidelity

gab_l23's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse

lilliee's review

challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

sea_sea's review

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I thought this was going to be a cute romcom, but it was so much sadder T-T… 
The book was still absolutely amazing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

volsungreads's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I think this would be a fantastic book if it wasn't marketed and described as a fluffy sapphic romance. It's a good book but not at all what I thought it would be from the tone of the blurb and the cover. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

siena_reads'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Cancer, Rape, Sexual assault, and Blood

nightworldlove's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

I genuinely enjoyed this (audio) book! The characters all have their own personality, with both strengths and flaws. There's some very serious stuff, but all of it is handled beautifully. No loose ends or questions left unanswered by the end, which is fantastic! <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Gaslighting

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Cursing, Infidelity, Blood, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

xabbeylongx's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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

2.0

Spoilers Ahead: 

This is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers book… need I say more? I was hooked from the blurb. 

We follow Penny and Tate, whose mothers are best friends. A bit of context for our main characters: Tate’s mum is extremely ill, and has been battling different illnesses for a while, and Penny’s mum has been disregarding Penny’s mental health after the accident with her father, in which he sadly passed. She drew away from Penny, and instead went to Tate’s mum, as they’ve always been that close. 

When Penny’s mum drops the bomb that she is going to be giving Tate’s mum part of her liver, Penny is shocked, because she wasn’t involved with the decision, and there was not a lot of time to think it through. Penny and Tate have to be there for each other, which is difficult as they both get on each other’s nerves. Tate’s mum suspects something between them, and Penny goes along with it, because otherwise it would mean one of her secrets getting passed on to her mother, and Penny can’t have that. 

The mums make it through, and they all move in together to save money. Penny is worried, as she hasn’t live with her mum for ages, as she’s quite difficult. As soon as she comes home, Penny finds one of her paintings (that she was going to sell) about their accident. 

She was going to profit off Penny’s grief. 

Penny stood up for herself, though. She had such a good character arc, and she’s a better person than me, because I would’ve snapped longgggg before that. 

Eventually Tate’s mum comes home, but not before Penny and Tate argue because she finds out about Penny not telling Tate’s mum the truth to save herself. She’s very angry. They do make up in the end, and Tate helps her to get through everything that she’s been going through mentally. They help each other, as they always do. 

Like the name suggests, they’ve always been drawn to each other, and there has been plenty of times in which they could have kissed, but they didn’t. This time, however, outside a truck they broke down in, they did. They kiss, and they finally admit their feelings, and they start to take control of their own lives. A very sweet ending, honestly. 

I thought this book was a little dry. I’m biased, as I absolutely adore sapphic novels, and enemies to lovers? Yes please. However, I felt the hatred was half-hearted. Obviously, a lot better than them being toxic (although arguably, they still were) but like where is the spice? Why am I not jumping for joy at the thought of them talking? It just felt a bit meh to me, so it was okay, but not the best. 

I have a personal hatred for Penny’s mum… she has no redeeming qualities. She deserves to never be forgiven, and nothing can make what she did okay. Just all of her actions, not even just her paintings. 

There’s a few things that I thought were a little unnecessary, like their friend’s relationships (where did it come from, and why is it there?) and honestly, it felt like the right pieces to a puzzle but they didn’t fit. I don’t know what was missing. I guess it missed that exciting spark I need to have to really love a book. It was okay, but nothing special - hence why it took me absolutely ages to finish reading it (it was such a relief when I’d finished). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, and Death of parent

sapphic_alpaca's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

jennalise13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

damn what a slow burn but tate and penny’s chemistry was so good. also love a complicated mother daughter relationship!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse and Mental illness