Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Adelaide

Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler

10 reviews

mcfay's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

I'm here crying ugly crying and wondering to say about this book. Quite obviously loved it. I saw myself in Adelaide and was so heartbreaking to realize but cathartic to watch come to a conclusion. Cliche as it sounds things really will be alright and we just need to the light and the dark as they to us. This book is a book for our times and I think can find a bit of themselves in Adelaide as well.

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ashleereadsbooks692's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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stephmcoakley's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective 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

4.5

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marisagomez25's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.5

I selected this as a book of the month pick after hearing such amazing things about this story.
"Adelaide" follows a young woman named Adelaide Williams, an American who, after finishing her masters in London, finds a job and gets to live out her England dreams. One of those dreams is falling into a whirlwind relationship with a sexy Englishman, Rory. Rory is far from the perfect man, and he presents Adelaide with a lot of red flags, but Adelaide cannot resist, and she does everything in her power to keep their relationship going strong, unfortunately, to her complete detriment.

Spoiler

Rory is a horrible man. He treats Adelaide horribly, and he refuses to fully commit with her because he is so hung up on his ex. Rory never sees, acknowledges, or appreciates how great Adelaide is for him or towards him and his friends. He also never holds himself accountable for all the shitty things he does to Adelaide. However, I do think Rory plays an important role in Adelaide finally growing a backbone and learning to speak up for herself. Rory was a painful lesson, but I think Adelaide really grows from their time together, and because of their relationship, she knows how to articulate to future men what she needs and what she deserves. She also learns more about herself and how strong she really is.
I really enjoyed Adelaide as a character. She went through some challenging hurdles in her teenage years, and she never really experienced a good healthy romantic relationship herself. I think her attitude towards relationships is very relatable, and something that so many women too often relate to. She is constantly bending backwards and censoring herself to be the perfect partner for Rory, and he never even sees it or takes the time to ask if her emotional needs are being met. Her complete mental breakdown I think also hits close to home.
This is a beautiful book about how your mental health NEEDS to come first, or else the rest of your relationships will suffer. Adelaide is a strong female character that highlights a story about how men who are not entirely evil but also not great can be a woman's downfall. This story deals with difficult subject matter, and at times it is challenging to read, but I think it is a captivating story that I did not want to put down.

Spoiler

I look forward to picking up more from Genevieve Wheeler in the future!

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joshlynjavier's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.0

i think reading new adult is just too jarring for me, especially from bouncing back and forth from stoic, nihilistic japanese literature to modern american lol.

adelaide’s story is one that is shaped with mental illness and mental health struggles from everywhere around her, and it did kind of alarm me that i really related and resonated with her toxic mindset. this story serves as a warning that you can’t place other people’s needs above your own forever, and that your needs have just as much value as theirs. if grief was one of the main focuses of the story, i felt it could’ve been elaborated upon more.

also rory’s character is so unrealistic, and all the characterization in this story felt so forced. the nathalie stuff was also so hard to read, half of it felt like manic-pixie-dream-girl esque and the other half was just so depressing because adelaide’s difficult grief, envy, and guilt towards this girl was so real and brutal.

for a debut novel, this was really well written. my main gripes were how “in-your-face” the writing was, i felt like i was getting spoon fed a lot of the main ideas and takeaways which i didn’t like.

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