Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee

31 reviews

sierranorgan's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was wild in many different ways. It had such a gossip girl vibe to it that I enjoyed, and the audiobook narrator was really playing that up! But sometimes the characters and situations were so absolutely ridiculous that I wasn’t to smash my head into something 😂 maybe it’s things that I’m missing from it’s source material? I’m not sure. But overall I enjoyed being brought back to that gossip girl feeling that I’ve missed! 
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sydapel's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.25

 I feel really conflicted about this one. I went in with really high hopes (I've never read Anna Karenina, but I'm a big fan of the movie), and while I think it's a really good retelling, there's a couple things that deeply bother me. The first is the writing style. You can tell the author is trying to portray the style of Tolstoy, but it feels clunky and overdone. Not to mention the "teenager speak" made me cringe. Hard. Upon learning the author has written for a lot of CW/Disney shows, these choices begin to make sense, but the overall writing style directly took me out of the realism of this story. Secondly, and more controversially, I'm not sure how I feel about the romanticization of "dying for love" that comes with the book's conclusion, especially in the context of teenage love and lust. I'm happy about the direction the author took here, but the underlying note it leaves us on is slightly problematic, especially given the YA audience it's intended for.
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beccalesurf's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

4.25

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kennie's review against another edition

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funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

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decklededgess's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

trigger warnings: sexual content (characters are under 18), drug and alcohol abuse, addiction, overdosing, rehabilitation, depression, suicide ideation, suicide attempt, self harm mention, vehicle accident, death by train, animal harm/death, emotionally abusive parents, infidelity, sexual harassment and cyber bullying, vomit, fatphobia, racism, classism, slut shaming, emotional incest


Idk who or what have me the idea but this book is not sapphic? There is one sapphic character who is like basically background. No wlw here in the main cast. 

Other than that disappointment this book was phenomenal. A very xoxo Gossip Girl touch to Anna Karenina which seems apt from what I know about the original text. 

The wealth disparity and lack of relatability of thee wealthy ass kids made the trauma a but more distant so I could read the book without internalising too much. 

It’s beautifully written and I loved the chaos that third person omniscient pov provided to the narrative. 

Excited for the next one!
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crystalmethany's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

2.0

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swestlake's review

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emotional 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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hannahb1533's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Listened to the audio book because Jenna Ushkowitz narrated (and you did great doing so girl!)

Overall this story was... a struggle for me.

Had I been reading a physical copy and not listening to it, I may have DNF'd it. And not because Jenny Lee's writing style is bad or because she isn't a compelling story teller, because she is. No, my real struggle was trying to sympathize with rich, spoiled high schoolers.

This book got 3 stars instead of 2 from me because of Lee's ability to tell a story along with Jenna's narrations. I only liked maybe one character really (Dustin. Kimmie also had some redeeming qualities) which isn't surprising since that one character was the only one not rolling in their parents money and living a life of privilege's so may of us will never know.

The story works as a retelling of Anna Karenina, it does what it is supposed to do to be that. This is like if Anna Karenina and Gossip Girl had a baby. But I had to constantly remind myself that these were high schoolers. Between the sex (this book has more graphic detail than anything else I have read that is considered YA), the casual drug use with no repercussions (in most cases), the cheating, and the overarching feeling that high school love is the end-all-be-all I found myself unable to relate on so many levels.

The characters are built well though, you understand all of their individual personalities and what makes them tic, which is hard with so many characters in one story. And the pacing of the book does keep you on your toes about what may happen next. Lee is clearly a very skilled writer. But for me I just can't score it higher because I just cannot get over the overflowing privilege's. Even though I know that is the point at time I was so frustrated listening to these characters and their lives.

Should I give the sequel a try? Will it solve some of the problems I had (can Steven please be forced to come to terms with his drug use?)? Or will I just get frustrated all over again?
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sarahsbookss's review

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challenging emotional funny lighthearted 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

5.0

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gabbygarcia's review against another edition

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lighthearted 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

3.5

Fun audiobook! Though I don't think I would have enjoyed it so much if I hadn't listened to it... 
Jenna Ushkowitz is perfect. 
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