Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth

12 reviews

elisabethkatee's review

4.25

to be with her is a sin, to be without her is a tragedy.

Holy jesus christ. this book took me a few chapters to get into but once i did oh man did it hit hard. i related to Lucy in SOO many ways and highlighted so many phrases and thoughts from her. this deep attachment to susannah and the feeling that she was some sort of god, until she realised susannah saw her in exactly the same way. it was so beautiful. the ending chapters TORE me apart and the ambiguous ending left me wanting more. i’m honestly so glad i persevered with this read cause BOY was it worth it!
i highly recommend to any girls out there who have ever fallen for another girl and felt so deeply entrenched in their desire that nothing could be stronger. i am crumbling at this book… in the best way possible.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

Minor: Eating disorder and Alcohol

jo_lzr's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

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

4.25

The prose in the book is very poetic. This book describes love and sorrow and portrays everything in a realistic way. Both Lucy and Susannah have their flaws but they are also both humans, trying to navigate life and out of being teenagers into adulthood. Do not read this book if you don't like reading about protagonists who make wrong or immoral decisions.

It's heartbreaking how having no choice but to survive can turn a person into someone they don't even recognize. I think that this story could have also worked as Lucy's villain origin story. I liked the happy ending, I just wish we could have gotten to see more of them now that they have met again. Though, I do understand that it will take them time to get together, since they're both different now.

Recommended songs to listen while reading this book: 
Altar - Kehlani
Melt - Kehlani
Making The Bed - Olivia Rodrigo
Not Strong Enough - Boygenius
Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan
loml - Taylor Swift
So Long London - Taylor Swift
Guilty As Sin? - Taylor Swift
illicit affairs - Taylor Swift
How Did It End? - Taylor Swift
my tears ricochet - Taylor Swift
Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? - Taylor Swift
Anti-Hero - Taylor Swift
High Infidelity - Taylor Swift
Is It Over Now? - Taylor Swift
Say Don't Go - Taylor Swift
I Know Places - Taylor Swift
cardigan - Taylor Swift
Dear Reader - Taylor Swift
tolerate it - Taylor Swift
coney island - Taylor Swift
ivy - Taylor Swift
October Passed Me By - girl in red

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cancer and Blood

directorpurry's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent

jordanbolker's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A beautiful coming out story that everyone should read! The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was that there was more internal dialogue and narration than actual dialogue. But it was beautiful, raw, emotional and I loved it overall. One of my favorite summer reads!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

hookerkitty's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I don’t think there’s a single person I’ve been attracted to, male or female, who made me obsessed with their spit or want to be masticated by them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Abandonment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Dementia, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

fee1111's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Stop it was so good omg it's also irish and full of small town culture so you know it's going to pull at the heartstrings i mean I've never read a book set in this country that wasn't determined to be depressing yet hopeful the Sally Rooney depresso has a chokehold on us as a nation 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Body shaming, Abortion, and Alcohol

e11en's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Minor: Death of parent

milliemarilyn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

3.5

I listened to this as an audiobook through Libby. The sentence by sentence craft of this is incredible, if I had the physical copy I know it would be covered in highlights and notes. 

However it was too much of a slow burn for me and the last third was a bit of a slog to finish. I completely understand the positive reviews though and wish I enjoyed it more

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Eating disorder and Death of parent

joensign's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder and Death of parent

queershark's review

emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent