Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

31 reviews

theelizabethjoy's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

tilder's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

Queer and heartwrenching. Got lost in some of the characters sometimes, felt like some of them could have been more fleshed out. Appreciated the ending and sense of closure for both of them. However, I do think that Sara’s trauma was resolved a bit too quickly, the whole reveal felt rushed and I wish we could have had more tension build up or something to complement the beginning of the book in the same way. Great read and look forward to LaCour’s other work!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

veronicakirchner's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.25

The most content warnings I’ve ever added for a single book. A deeply troubling, heavy novel with some glimmers of hope; these two women’s stories are interwoven tragically and beautifully. I am devastated and heart broken for the main characters and the pain/traumas they have suffered, yet find solace in the simple pleasure and peace they derive from their love for one another.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia and Blood

ohmygoshtosh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Violence

littki's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

cheye13's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

Something about this read a little young to me. Maybe it was because we started with one of the characters at 14, maybe because we don't get the full "reveal" of Sara's home life until so late, I'm not quite sure.

And it's not strictly a romance, so it makes sense the story focused more on other elements of both women's journeys, but I didn't feel a connection between them at all. It read as though they were the only queer women in the vicinity (i.e. in the book), so they may as well date.

It was a decent story, and very well written, but I didn't find that it offered anything exceptionally unique.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Pedophilia, Blood, and Alcohol

two underage characters perform sex acts for money mostly off-page; an underage girl seriously considers sex work for a time

booksandbesitos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

Nina Lacour is my favorite author and I had really high expectations for this. I loved the storytelling and the dual points of view. It took me a long time to get through it because the content is pretty heavy, especially for Sarah’s story. The ending was a little surprising, not bad just not what I was expecting. But I think that in this book it’s more  closure than endings. Overall I really liked it, I think I’ll definitely reread it in one go now that I got through it the first time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Blood

rayannotates's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

casdelvo's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction and Sexual content

belladonnashrike's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

a solid 4 🌟 - I enjoyed it but it wasn’t perfect. I wish that emilie and sarah’s pasts were more fleshed out

(specifically with the drug plotline in sarah’s past — unless I missed something, it wasn’t mentioned until the end? it felt off)

and I wish that it was longer. I would’ve loved to read more about their relationship.

I loved that how even though they went through semi-similar situations in their past and are still working through it (also wish this was more of a focus), the plant is what really brought them together. I just love that. 

nina lacour writes very beautifully and julia whelan really made her words come to life! this is the first audiobook i’ve ever finished and I would say it’s mostly due to whelan

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail