Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

20 reviews

esme586's review

dark mysterious 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

tahsintries's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

exiellent's review

dark sad medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Vomit, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

allyah's review

adventurous dark tense medium-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

amandalorianxo's review

challenging dark emotional 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

3.25

So there are a lot of triggers that I wish had been brought up somewhere before the start of the novel. This should not have been marketed as YA. It’s too intense for young teens. One of the triggers is a school shooting. Despite that, this novel is hauntingly painful and sad. Albeit really short which I low key wish it was longer. I didn’t think I understood the backstory of how Jake gained the ability to see the dead. It was like the audience was expected to just take his word for it and accept it. The storyline with Alister was cute but it could have meshed a little better. Overall, I think if the story had been maybe fifty or a hundred pages longer, I would have felt more of an understanding as to why Jake can do what he do and why Benji can’t. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

miaaa_lenaaa's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

<SPOILERS>

Bro this was so good

You did low key scare me that jake and allister werent gonna get together

Like i think maybe there were a couple things i think could have been a little better? Like fiona doing a complete u turn on all her friends in like a day, fiona and allister helping jake get the diary but then not being in it till the end basically? but it wasnt enough of an annoyance for it to be 4 stars

It did scare me, but also it almost made me cry and was v v cute

Also im a big fan of the general concept

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

being_stupid's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug use and Mental illness

mjwilliamson's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

2.75

I liked the book. It wasn’t a bad book to read. I found the content and themes it touched on very compelling and they told a very interesting story. However, I found Jake to be a bit of a Mary Sue. Everything that he did wrong, or went wrong, could somehow be attributed to his circumstances/the ghosts and ghouls surrounding him. There was no ownership for his actions and there weren’t any major consequences for his actions. I would have liked him to have dealt to a modicum of his damage before it was immediately accepted by his family/friends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Stalking, Car accident, and Outing

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Slavery, Vomit, and Stalking

sunsetcity's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

icannotweave's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Car accident