Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

12 reviews

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

kristinconnolly's review against another edition

I found that the book was really triggering and I couldn’t pick it back up after reading about the pedophilia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, and Trafficking

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

avasbookmark's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, and Trafficking

Moderate: Drug abuse and Alcohol

priadrummond's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Abandonment

Minor: Pedophilia, Violence, and Trafficking

alaina's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

This book has many scenes with deep rich emotional experiences, but I struggled to care for or root for the main characters. 
This is a story about falling in love but isn’t a romance. 
I wanted the Creole family identity to be explored more deeply. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, and Trafficking

Moderate: Death of parent

rgibbons's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

This book started out rough with very emotional and challenging life situations and didn't really improve from there. Just too heavy for me

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Trafficking, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Trafficking

Minor: Confinement, Violence, and War

andreadelo's review against another edition

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

3.75

Simple yet reflective. I picked this up expecting mainly a romance but found two stories about the difficulties of finding oneself. I liked the bittersweet moral but sometimes the book felt a bit too on the nose with its metaphors, sometimes explaining  instead of describing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

disastercryptid's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Trafficking, and Death of parent