Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

168 reviews

hyperashley's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, and Death of parent

katwhiskerz's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

I love Nina LaCour. This was my second book from her and she absolutely excels at writing complex female characters. This book is far from the silly, sweet lesbian rom-com I was expecting. I felt deeply for Sara, who underwent a number of traumas and I related to Emilie's lack of direction and identity. Both main characters felt like full, real people and I think that's a testament to LaCour's seamless writing; you can feel how much thought and love she put into their stories. 

I enjoyed the rich descriptions and the yerba buena motif of their relationship being something that is sweet, bitter, and healing. I enjoyed their first meeting. It felt fast and swift, the way love sometimes is. I understand why it may seem insta-lovey to some people though. 

Unfortunately though, things kind of took a downturn for me after the point where Emilie and Sara reconnected a second time. I just thought there could have been a more concise way for Sara to explain her history and maybe more time to really explore their relationship with each other. They spent so much time apart that it was difficult to really envision the two of them together, rather than one idealizing the other. I also saw someone say that the Sara in Emilie's POV felt different than the Sara in her own POV and I wholeheartedly agree. I was hoping this book was another 5 star read, but it was still worth picking up!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

lezliepez's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Child death

Minor: Drug use and Death of parent

lorriss's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, and War

emfass's review against another edition

challenging dark 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: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol

annaks17's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Tender and deeply emotional. I was not expecting it to be quite so heavy. Stunning prose. It did take me a bit of time to settle into the two storylines and how everyone was connected.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use

madysen's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

beecaelin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

3.75

I feel that Lacour’s writing style is very accessible whilst still being deep and thoughtful. The characters’ backgrounds seemed very intense and thought out however I think this wasn’t developed fully in the actual story- maybe due to the blunt writing style. Some parts did feel slightly flat but overall I loved the characters and their depth. Tbh I think the book could have been a bit longer but I like it either way. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

ameliesbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

The beginning of the book tackles many difficult and triggering topics, it was quite a lot

siobhanward's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

This was one of those books that definitely had potential but the execution just fell flat. The connection between the past and present-day plots felt really disjointed for most of the book, and I just didn't get the Emilie/Sara relationship. There was no build up, and in a book with so much background, insta-love made no sense. I just don't quite get what LaCour was going for with this one - it seemed like she had great ideas for her characters and then just kind of plopped them into a romance plot and hoped she could make it work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent