Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Una última parada

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Una última parada by Casey McQuiston

13 reviews

emaline_109's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Listened to audiobook

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rainbowrocky's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My final thoughts on the book are: fun concept, cute characters, dull execution. The beginning was soooo slow but the ending was really good. It took me a year to read this and usually that’s not a good sign for me lol. I feel like I knew the friends better than the love interest August is supposedly bending space and time for to be in love with. Don’t get me wrong, I love found family and I enjoyed seeing them interact, but shouldn’t we know more about Jane? Like we find out about her past, but as a person her character fell a little flat for me. And I found August’s hero complex a touch annoying and fell into the white savior trope a little too hard. I also didn’t care for the “save the diner” side plot (you mean to tell me August is suddenly sad for a place she barely shows up to for work?), but the “find her uncle that’s been missing since the 70s” side plot worked really well for both August’s narrative and Jane’s. I enjoyed McQuiston’s lyrical writing style, especially for the spicy scenes, and how they do dialogue. Overall 4/5 stars. Probably won’t ever read again but I will keep my book cause it’s cute.

Edit: You know what I think this novel needs? Jane's POV. If we had a dual POV with Jane and August, I think it would have been so much better. We could have seen her flashbacks instead of just being told about them through August's eyes. That would have been so much better and maybe getting her inner thoughts about how she feels about August wouldn't make the romance so one-sided for me.

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alexbooksandmore's review against another edition

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funny 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? Yes

3.25

I kinda looked forward to reading this, but I don't feel completely satisfied with it.
The first half of the book felt really slow and uneventful, and I just wanted to slap a few people. Even the second half didn't really blow my mind, but I like how everything started making sense and finally saw some character growth.
Both MC were okay. They were fun, they had growth, and by the end of the story, they seemed so much more comfortable with themselves, which I adore.

I love the found family trope and how August found some awesome people to have around her. I love the other characters more than the MC...
Of course, the contemporary-si-fi theme was interesting. I wish it was more scientific details... I guess.. idk. But it was an interesting time travel kind of thing.

Another thing that was really uncomfortable for me was how much and intense PDA was happening...

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another_avid_bookreader's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

5.0

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bg_oseman_fan's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This was an incredible read. it really felt like a love story to 70’s queer history told in a way that brings it to the present. Casey’s characters are always people you want to root for, regardless of what is going on. She also managed to make it feel like we inhabited all the place in the story and befriended all of the characters. A really fun read!

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dayniw's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

3.75

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kalireads13's review against another edition

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funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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julesadventurezone's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.75

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offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.5

Favourite quote [I’ve already returned the book to the library, so I’m pulling this quote from my memory. I apologize if it’s not exactly correct]: “that sucks, I’m your mom now. The rules are, no Tarantino movies and bed time is never”

I loved this! It was cute, heartwarming, romantic, spicy, and relatable. I’m so glad to see a book with good bi representation and diverse characters in general.

I really think this should be tagged as Science Fiction because I definitely would have picked the book up sooner if I had known there was more than the rom-com plot!

Things I liked:

Queer history woven into the story [Note: I recently saw a review that said this was inaccurately represented, so I’ll have to look into this further]
Found family
All the side characters
All the rep
Sci-fi
Sapphic spice
Finally a Queer book that’s not about coming out

Some critiques:

I was frustrated that the issue of child abuse and mental illness was never properly addressed. It seems like August’s childhood was played off as shitty but ultimately forgivable based on the way she reconnected with her mom at the end. In my opinion, August’s mother was severely neglectful. On the other hand, her mother’s behaviour seemed to obviously stem from mental illness, but it was never treated as such in the book.

I know that a lot of people have taken issue with the “most people aren’t like that anymore” line and I agree that it’s shitty. However, my problem isn’t with the line itself, as I think it is something that August would say. My issue is the fact that the line is never brought up or addressed again. I think it could have been a good opportunity for August to learn and grow.

Similarly, I’ve seen a lot of people express frustration with the fact that the narration did not start using Biyu instead of Jane at the end. While I think this would have been nice, I don’t think the author set it up well. The character said she was “thinking about” going by Biyu at the very end of the book. I would have preferred if this had been introduced a bit earlier so that there was time to explore it further and allow the character to more explicitly state her desire to be called Biyu.

As much as I love a happy ending, I think the author wrapped this one up a bit too perfectly, to the point where it wasn’t believable. Too “happily ever after” for me

Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶.5/5

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annir's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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