Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Off the Record by Camryn Garrett

5 reviews

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

inspiring reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body shaming, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Biphobia, Classism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Vomit, and Alcohol

booksawyer's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Off The Record is Camryn Garrett’s sophomore novel, which captivated me from the first chapter. The story follows Josie, a black, plus size teen who aspires to be a journalist. Her talent leads her to win a prestigious writing contest, and her prize is the opportunity to write a profile on an up-and-coming movie star for her favorite magazine. 

As Josie starts her journey, she also discovers the horrific, yet unspoken, issue of sexual abuse in Hollywood. When faced with these injustices, Josie is asked to write a piece exposing a serial abuser in the industry, putting her journalism career at risk as it is just beginning.

Off The Record is the kind of book you will never get bored of reading. There are so many things going on in the story: the profile, the sexual abuse story, a romance, complicated family relationships, body insecurity, discussions of race, and more. This story is rich with details and conflict, and I felt truly captivated the whole time. 

As a plus size reviewer, I loved seeing a book about a plus size heroine that was evenly balanced between conversations of her size and her just living her life. Yes, Josie deals with her own insecurity and faces scrutiny from others, but she is also given a fully-fleshed out story where she has talents and struggles that are beyond her size.

This book contains so much great representation, and not just for plus size individuals and survivors of SA. There is so much BIPOC representation and two major characters (including the MC) are bisexual. It is so amazing to see a book with such a diverse set of characters! 

I didn’t expect this book to have a romance, but I was pleasantly surprised that it did! Honestly, the romance was one of my favorite elements of the story. The chemistry between the couple made me swoon and I couldn’t contain my anticipation for them to finally get to together! 

I really can’t say enough good things about Off The Record. I highly recommend this book to everyone! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Body shaming

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Homophobia

I also want to include a moderate trigger warning for toxic diet culture and a minor trigger warning for conversion therapy.

mme_carton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Bullying, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

Moderate: Self harm, Sexism, Biphobia, Misogyny, Alcohol, and Eating disorder

Minor: Pregnancy

longlost's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

wow. wow wow wow. with this book camryn garrett has solidified her place as one of my favourite authors. her writing style is ENTRANCING and her character craftsmen-ship is incredible. josie is so strong and reading her story,

seeing her succeed in the thing she loved, succeed in uplifting the voices of other women,

was so fucking powerful. i swear by the time

savannah called to tell her she'd found the NDA they needed

i was on the verge of tears. this book might be about a heavy subject but it is so so important

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Gaslighting, Bullying, Rape, and Body shaming

Minor: Alcohol and Cursing

josieee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

3.75

Reading this book really hit hard because Josie felt so real. As I was going through it I would have to stop and remind myself that she’s fictional. That’s both impressive on the author’s part and disturbing for the reader.
   Even though the message of this novel was inspiring, I found that it didn’t pick up until the last 100 pages. That’s not to say that the first 2/3s were bad, they would just get kind of boring with the slow pacing of the book.
   Also, I feel like I didn’t get as much out of it as I could have. Alice and Marius played such a big part, and I really wish they had their own point of views.
   Overall this was an eye opening read that taught me about the experience of someone who is not only a Black woman, but queer, plus sized, and struggling with mental illness.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia

Minor: Alcohol and Vomit