Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

27 reviews

bellsdixon's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, and Pregnancy

hannavaistila's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

hjb_128's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nimeneth's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I'm settling on a 3.5 rating because I didn't love it. It dragged through the first third to half, and then only sped up because the structure went from covering several months to doing the highlights of several years. I spent half the book mad about Julia, or uneasy about her choices in relation to Alice. In the last third, though, that kind of went away. The ending was bittersweet but I do like how it tied the important things up while still leaving the reader free to imagine what might have come next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Suicide attempt

yipt's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

lexcellent's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Car accident, and Lesbophobia

vanessatombolini's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

britnic's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Grief, and Suicide attempt

tyras_bookshelf's review against another edition

Wasn’t into the structure (3rd person POV, repetitive and seemingly unnecessary time sections) which made the story move really slowly for me. The audiobook kept me in partially interested while I was reading but I wasn’t excited to read when I put the book down. 

I think the characters were written well as in they’re complicated with a range of motivations, but certainly not likable. I understand Julia’s coping with her lack of control and security in life but she was so manipulative and selfish. I understand William’s childhood severely damaged him but he was so meek and dishonest with himself. 

I really struggled throughout the whole of what I read to reconcile the very real human emotions of grief and loss and anxiety and disappointment and entitlement  that the characters are experiencing. To balance a very black-and-white perception of what is right and what is wrong; it was so frustrating and upsetting to be upset with these characters that are going through real stuff and have all of this baggage and all of these wounds they didn’t ask for, but also knowing that I hate them as people and I hate their choices and the things that they’ve let themselves attach to rather than doing the right thing.

I think that’s why I didn’t finish it. It’s very emotionally complicated. 
It made me feel like maybe I need to examine my own emotional intelligence, but also let me revel in the feeling of being angry with someone for doing something that hurts you (or another character) is okay, even if you understand why they’re behaving that way. Both emotions can exist side-by-side.
Does that make sense? 

Anyway, this wasn’t me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Abandonment

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Infertility, and Sexual content