Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Yerba Buena: A Novel by Nina LaCour

86 reviews

annaks17's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Tender and deeply emotional. I was not expecting it to be quite so heavy. Stunning prose. It did take me a bit of time to settle into the two storylines and how everyone was connected.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use

angiealexa27's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.5

A read for the queer women! My only ugh about it is i wish there was more to the love story but i think the author did it on purpose, so i respect it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

intearsaboutrobots's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

not my usual but sooo glad i picked it up. plenty of lines and moments that will stick w me

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug abuse

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

otakatoe3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

ramunepocky's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

“But that’s the way it goes. I lost nearly everything, and then I built something better.” 

This book was somewhat a disappointment to me. We Are Okay is one of my absolute favourite books so I had high hopes that I’d love this one too, and I just didn’t. It was okay, but only okay. It wasn’t a particularly long book, and in spite of the fact that it spans over about 12 years, I feel like absolutely nothing happened. And despite the fact that there is essentially two protagonists, Sara and Emilie, I feel like the book isn’t split well between the two; it focuses so much on Emilie and so little on Sara, which is a shame, because I absolutely couldn’t stand Emilie, whereas I really felt for Sara and would have liked to read more about her. Emilie was just so damn annoying and I really hated her. I feel like she made a victim out of herself, even though she was the one that got herself into those situations. She distanced herself entirely from her family due to her sister’s issues with drugs, which I can understand wanting distance from that, but then she complained that there was a distance between her and her family, and between her and her sister. BRO, you created it. And then the fact that she actively got involved with a married man, who had kids. She knew that he was married, she knew that he had kids, and she had an affair with him anyway, a long standing one, and only broke up with him when it actively affected her. I was genuinely so disgusted with her for that, and I could no longer feel any sympathy or warmth towards her. I feel so much of the book focused on the affair too, and I just really didn’t want that. It was so vile. And it irritated me so much that Emilie once again acts like a victim and goes on about how no-one wants to stay, and everyone leaves her, like ofc he’s gonna leave in the middle of the night, hE’S MARRIED AND YOU KNOW THAT HES GOING HOME TO HIS WIFE AND KIDS GODDAMMIT. And again, it annoyed me so much that after Sara’s father died and she practically begged Emilie to come home with her, and Emilie said no, she then went on again about how everyone leaves her and that Sara wouldn’t come back like BRO, WHAT. She literally begged you to come with her. You do this to yourself, and then act like a victim and blame it on everyone else. It just winds me up so much. 

The redeeming features for me were the chapters about Sara – I was a lot more invested in her life and the harrowing things she’d been through, and the connections she’d made and lost. She’d done whatever she could to survive, even though it meant severing all her ties to her hometown and her friends. I was glad that she got the opportunity to reunite with them ten years later and that they didn’t hold it against her. Her tumultuous relationship with her brother was interesting too since he was the one part of her family she’d tried to hold onto, but he didn’t want her to hold on as tight as she did, especially after they were older, and he understood more what was happening and wanted his own freedom to choose for himself. I often found myself desperately trying not to sob during Sara’s chapters because everything she went through and built for herself just really broke me. I really wish she had been the centre of the book instead of Emilie as maybe I would have loved it more. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

montsett's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

ada_rosales's review against another edition

challenging fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, and Abandonment

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

republicofben's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

What an incredible, reflective book! This isn't just a romance novel, plus one could argue the romance isn't actually the main focus of Sara and Emilie's stories. This book had a much more serious, sad tone than I expected, particularly early on. Make sure you go into this book looking for this kind of story, but I'm the right mindset it's a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Abandonment

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Car accident