Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko

38 reviews

robinks's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.25

It was lovely to hear Kiyoko narrating her own novel. Having other voice actors and certain sounds within the audiobook was an interesting choice but also ended up taking me out of the story. I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the scenes too.

I also haaaated Sonya’s character, which made Coley’s feelings for her hard to understand, and I’m annoyed that they end up together (though I do appreciate the nod to the Girls Like Girls music video).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I thought this was really a sweet story about initial love and finding out who you are but I really disliked the characters in the story, particularly Sonya and Trenton. I don’t like the way that love is portrayed in some ways, particularly as something that always has elements of harm or hurt. That’s an unhealthy way to describe love, especially to the target audience of this novel which are upper middle/high school aged kids. I didn’t love the ending, because it felt like a cop out. The characters hadn’t changed all that much and they weren’t ready to make the choices they had made — it all felt too sped up. But, Coley and her dad building a relationship out of really negative circumstances was a beautiful plot line. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

joisaddler's review against another edition

fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, and Grief

miloblue's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

2.75

Best Seller, Shmest Beller…. this book was….OK.

my main disappointment was that Coley ended up with Sonya, who didn’t really redeem herself AT ALL.

It’s a pretty big angst fest throughout, but I did appreciate how Coley kinda did some work and have some growth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

alex1's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

ahopper7's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

This book reads like an independent queer film, and I’m here for it. It also was basically a combination of Kiyoko’s songs like Girls like Girls, Curious, Sleepover, and What I Need. Again, here for it.

Overall, it was a coming of age story for queer teens, one learning to love herself and accept love after trauma, and one learning love and accept herself because of internalized homophobia. Both of these girls exists in our queer community, I was one of these girls. I do think this needed a little more editing help, but I enjoyed the book, even as an adult outside of the market age, and I think it’s an important story to have out there. Kudos to Kiyoko for expanding her music into a debut novel!

Also, I highly recommend the audiobook. It has a full cast, is well produced, and the main character is voiced by Kiyoko. Definitely made the reading experience more enjoyable for me!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

micaelacccc's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Abortion

pensandpicks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia and Grief

Minor: Suicide and Death of parent

taylorsevalia's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.75

Loved the small town vibes and coming of age queer story! This year, I started to gravitate more towards audiobooks after it took me years to find the kind of audiobooks I like. I’m happy to say I decided to listen to the audiobook first because this is the best one I’ve read! I need Hayley Kiyoko to narrate all the books from now on and for me to read more books that tell stories as atmospherically as this one did! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Car accident, and Outing

Minor: Blood, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Classism

ceeshay's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicide, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Toxic friendship