Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

26 reviews

joensign's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, and Death of parent

bencaroline's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing 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: Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lovealwaysadi'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: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Terminal illness and Toxic relationship

massivepizzacrust's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Alcohol

annabulkowski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

guatevr's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction

raphynette's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

blackcatkai's review against another edition

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

3.5

CW: death, implied-suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, overdose, rape, underage sex work (mentioned), cheating, grief, mental illness, trauma

This was a pretty great start to LaCour's entry into the adult fiction world. It does cover a lot of heavy topics, so take any content/trigger warnings seriously before diving in. With the way the blurb sounded, I DID think it'd be a little more focused on the two MC's coming together than it actually was.

This is mainly a contemporary literary fiction novel about two women's lives and the trauma & experiences they go through throughout their lives before those lives intersect. it touches on them together in a couple points (similar to Normal People by Sally Rooney), but it focuses a lot more on their individual events without each other. I found the pacing in the middle to be a bit slow, but it had a strong beginning and ending and I ultimately was rooting for them.

I hope LaCour continues to dive into the adult fiction world, I will absolutely continue reading her work. I was just expecting a little more here & was honestly a bit confused in points.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism

lacey_wi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia and Dementia

readingwithtrey's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.5

“She'd been a flower. Snipped from the root, quick to wilt, temporary. She'd existed to be lovely and to be chosen. No one had expected her to last.”

“Here was the taste of it — a little bitter, a little sweet, some citrus brightness, maybe honey. And here was meaning. A home, hers alone.”

Wow, where to begin. I went into this one blind and it exceeded any expectations I had. This is a story about the lives of Sara and Emilie and the steps that lead them to each other. I was so captivated by and invested in both of their lives. The story felt real and raw and the ending definitely lived up to that vibe. I truly enjoyed this one and highly recommend. 

CW: addiction, overdose, death, infidelity

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Grief