genevieve_eggleston's review against another edition
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Mental illness, Car accident, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Biphobia, Homophobia, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity
This book focuses a lot on emotional abuse/manipulation, so take caution when reading. It also deals a lot with alcoholism and the resulting effects, both on relationships and physical effects (like vomiting). This book includes a lot of toxic relationships, so I would recommend avoiding it if any of these things upset you.queer_cir's review against another edition
- 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
This is being added to my comfort reread list
I got all the queerness, all the love, all the neurodivergentness
Half the pages are highlighted cause I felt the words so deeply
I just want brightsiders songs to be real
I'm sad I'm finished cause I want to live in this world with these characters forever
Though in a way I do and that's what I loved about it cause their shared love and support their queer chosen family reminds me of my queer chosen family
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Addiction and Biphobia
Minor: Transphobia and Homophobia
jessnreads's review against another edition
1.75
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Emotional abuse, and Biphobia
booshy's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Biphobia
longlost's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jen wilde's writing style is enjoyable to read + the characters were very dynamic and enjoyable to read about. i even enjoyed reading about the asshole characters because they were just.... SO fucking awful i had to keep turning the page to see how it could get worse. the chaotic rockstar life feels like it was really captured in this book and i love that
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Biphobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Misogyny
Minor: Transphobia and Vomit
anniereads221's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Car accident, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Minor: Transphobia
HP referencesforeverinastory's review against another edition
- 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
Rep: bisexual female MC, genderqueer pansexual love interest, Black bi femme nonbinary side character, 1st gen Korean-American questioning male side character, Chinese-Australian sapphic side character dating a sapphic Black female side character, achillean male side character.
CWs: Alcohol consumption (both legal and underage), alcoholism, biphobia, child abuse/neglect, drug use, emotional abuse, gaslighting, mental illness (anxiety), misogyny, outing, panic attacks/disorders, toxic relationship, vomit, racism.
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Car accident, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Moderate: Racism
hannahmayhere's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Biphobia and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Transphobia
Minor: Vomit
the_escapist's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
The positives: it pulled me in quickly and kept maintaining my interest throughout, the characters talked and behaved like real teenagers, the friend group was very wholesome, very positive depiction of a variety of LGBT+ characters, the main character learns a lot of important lessons and becomes someone who would actually make a really good role model to teens and kids, and even though I found it kind of mediocre, I don't regret reading it.
The main reason for my star reading being so in the middle is that this book isn't what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to really feel like the protagonist was a musician and get all the knowledge and habits that come with it, which didn't happen. The depiction of her being a drummer could have been substituted for any other instrument. I also wanted to feel the awe and terror that comes with a character becoming famous so young and feel the adrenaline of the band playing huge live shows, to really feel the process of songwriting and recording and the collaborative process. This was touched on a little, but I didn't feel it on a visceral level. And I kept getting thrown out of the story because the band is supposed to be a punk band and yet none of the lyrics and descriptions of the music we were shown made them feel like a punk band – they felt more like a pop group or a pop-punk band at the heaviest. I know, I know, it's very pedantic of me, but it was a thing that kept popping up and throwing me out of the story/irritating me.
I wanted more subtlety and nuance. The morality and behaviour of the antagonists felt very black and white. I'm not sure if this was a problem with this author or if it's more due to the age of the target audience for this book – I don't often read Young Adult books so I'm sure which it is. Sometimes I felt like sometimes the author would be speaking through the characters on things like queer issues and sexism, things that felt paraphrased from online spaces rather than being that character's own individual take on it.
I did finish this and enjoyed reading (well, listening to) it, I was just disappointed that the story wasn't what I wanted from the premise, which maybe means my review isn't all that fair, but these are just my honest thoughts.
Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, and Transphobia