Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

11 reviews

hdunscombe's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death and Dementia

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail

nicolecoryn's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, and Drug use

amy_in_the_city's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

The pacing of this book was weird. I really enjoyed the slow development of the relationship in the first half as the two lead characters correspond through emails and texts. Then they meet about halfway through, and the rest of the book is a mess. The FMC is pissed off at the MMC for hiding his identity from her, but she was also hiding her identity from him. She spends a good chunk of the rest of the book picking fights with everyone who cares about her. During this section, I really started to feel like instead of a relationship, the book should have ended with the FMC trying therapy again. Then the main characters spend a lot of time just kind of hanging out but not really as a couple while they slowly decide to actually be a couple. There are a bunch of other plot lines (the audition, grandmother's health, finishing recording the audiobook, mom's relationship, the audiobook studio, friend's acting career stress, etc.) in the second half of the book, so the romance gets sidelined. 

The MMC feels underdeveloped throughout the book and the story makes him grovel seemingly just because groveling is popular in romance novels. He didn't do anything that deserved groveling. Also, I think there was only like one sex scene, and it was kind of vague. It makes sense to be vague if you're trying to keep the book from being explicit, but the audiobook the main characters record is explicit so this book wouldn't have been non-explicit anyways. Something similar happens at the end when the story tells us the MMC wrote a song and then proceeds to tell us how the FMC felt listening to the song instead of giving us any song lyrics.

Another thing that bugged me throughout the book was that there were repeated instances of putting down other women. The FMC and one of her fellow audiobook narrators are dismissive towards an aspiring audiobook narrator because they perceive her as a blonde bimbo. The grandma is always making fun of another woman at her retirement home's plastic surgery, which seems like an especially odd choice in a book about a FMC with facial differences. Everyone at the retirement home makes fun of another female resident there for being proud of a recipe she makes that brought her family joy. The FMC seems judgmental towards and disdainful of the gentle-parenting yoga mom she is seated next on a plane.

I really loved the idea of this book, but it just didn't land the execution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Misogyny, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

cibani's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Dementia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

eligru's review against another edition

funny inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse

cady_sass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

4.0

I am *very* picky about audiobooks, to the point that I know it’s unfair and illogical and so I tend to not listen to them at all, but I like Julia Whalen. A lot. I find her very talented and enjoyable to listen to. Now, bring me a book of written by an audiobook narrator ABOUT audiobook narrators and it seems only fair (and totally obvious) that it need to be consumed via audio. Right? So, of course, I did. Now please refer back to my comment about being unfairly judgmental and illogically picky about audiobooks and take my review with a grain of salt. I believe this book is good and if I had read it on page I would’ve loved it more, possibly. The characters are unique and flawed and diverse, the banter is funny and witty and cute. BUT…. But… you can tell an audiobook narrator wrote this. There are characters who exist solely for the purpose of the narrator [author] showing off her skills in accents. Which, for the record, is good (with the exception of the Bostonian ex boyfriend with the most horrendous Boston accent I’ve ever hear and take person offense to), but there’s no real reason for them. I also have mixed feelings about a white author writing about the plight of a black woman in Hollywood… but it does seem (to me, another white woman, to note) to be handled somewhat carefully. Just perhaps not her story to tell, again, as a white woman who was a former actress. I guess all this to say some of this felt inauthentic but it’s hard to parse that from what I HEARD and wish I would’ve just read the book 🤷🏻‍♀️ don’t come for me. I still gave it 4 stars!! There’s quality story here and a lot of fun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dianaschmidty's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

pidge_reads's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

kimveach's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective relaxing sad 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

5.0

You have to listen to this book!  I don't know how good it would be in print.  This narrator is fantastic, and her book showcases all her gifts:  male and female voices, accents, younger vs. older voices, and other sounds.  It was an amazing listen.  It's a romance book, but it's got more substance than you would expect.  And there are a few laugh-out-loud parts that are so worth it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

xeniba's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

I picked this up on a whim and really enjoyed it. I found the story to have depth and a good balance of real life and fantasy. I liked the characters and felt they were fleshed out well. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent