Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

23 reviews

olliereadabook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Hate crime, Drug use, and War

adam_ski's review

challenging hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

A well-written book with a unique plot. It tackles the consequences of being in a famous boy band really well, acting as an insight into the world of celebrities but in a fun and engaging way.

However, the joys of this book are partly overshadowed by the characters. This is particularly true in Angel's case, where she acts selfishly throught the entire book only to be cast as almost a hero by the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Blood

Minor: Drug use, Addiction, and Toxic relationship

This book is not emotionally light. There is a lot of mention of mental health issues as well as the consequences of having obsessive fans.

thatreadinggal11's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.25

This book was interesting. The characters changed and blurred into one another. I love the inclusivity and thoughtfulness about angels religion and jimmy’s gender. Overall this book was great but could have some slight tweaks

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, and Drug use

seaweedbrain11's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad tense 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

5.0

The best book I have ever read 😃 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use

andloveistoolong's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcohol, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

Minor: Child abuse, Biphobia, Drug use, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship

_nem_'s review against another edition

emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5

Rep: POV trans man, POV POC islamic girl who wears a hijab, gay characters, bi characters

I related to both of the main characters in the book. Angel through her parents constantly worrying and her trying to find her own way in the world. And Jimmy with his anxious thoughts and panic attacks. It felt like they understood me in a way that people never really have before and I understood them. 

The premise of the book is very interesting with one POV from a member of a band and the other from a fan of the band. I don't know much about the behind the scenes of bands but it seemed to cover that well. This book was a lot about relationships and how keeping things from each other affects the relationship with that person. 

I wouldn't say it was an easy read with Jimmy's panic attacks sometimes causing me to feel panicky too but I did enjoy this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use and Self harm

sophiafaurs's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Blood, Stalking, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Medical content, Misogyny, Outing, and Confinement

Minor: Drug use, Gore, Grief, Dysphoria, and Transphobia

chaoticbyrddemon's review

emotional funny reflective tense fast-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

It's overall a really good book. 
I enjoyed both of the character perspectives, both from Angel and Jimmy. 
Angel's character was a bit nice. At first, it reminded me of the book "Kill the Boy Band" which has a similar concept, but it was executed rather poorly and to an extreme level. Angel's character was really well written, and I enjoyed the research that Alice Oseman put into making sure that her character was accurate.

Spoiler

Angel having a safe space and really only bonding in fandom culture definitely hit close to home and I really enjoyed seeing her grow throughout the story.

Jimmy's character was definitely a lot, and I really enjoyed it. Seeing how he and the rest of the band had to deal with everything and such was really interesting. Each of the members has their own ways of coping with things, and I think learning and reading about that were really nice. 
My favorite character was Lister, who seems to fall into a trope that I enjoy.

Spoiler

Star who is oversexualized and relying on addiction.

Definitely not a super common one. But the way he was written was really interesting.

Spoiler

Upon first glance when you first meet him, he seems like a completely different character. However as the story goes on, not only his problems but the problems of the band are revealed and we learn more about them and how they deal with things.

It's definitely a book I'd read again, having lots of surprising twists and such, some of which make me super happy and others worried. It's a book that I think I'd want to annotate in the future and I'd highly recommend it. 
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CW: mentions of religion, drug use, blackmail, stalking, antisemitic stereotypes (in mention), blood, violence, addiction, eating disorders (mentioned), suicidal thoughts, family struggles, break ups, near death, hospitals, biphobia (mentioned), transphobia (mentioned), 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Addiction, Alcohol, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Medical content

Minor: Dysphoria, Transphobia, and Biphobia

christineolivia's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Drug use

Minor: Death

innastholiel's review

dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment, Deadnaming, Drug use, Sexual content, Death, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, and Grief