Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

16 reviews

bubbles_ishere's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

3.75

While I did really enjoy the book and the way the characters developed, I felt like it rushed at parts in order to have a lot of things happen. 

I would have preferred further introspection from the characters before acting, but for people who like to read books where things "happen", this is a good choice. 

The book very much feels like a romance that decides half way through that other plot events are more relevant and then decides to change genre. 

Spoiler for how plot/character focused the book was during certain events:

At first it felt like the book would focus further on the interpersonal relationships of the characters. In the beginning, a lot of time was spent on the characters panicking over being in situations. The first kisses of the couples got portrayed, after which the characters had to face various challenges to come to terms with their feelings. However, when it came to actually getting into a relationship or showing the conversations needed for that to happen the author skipped forward and just told the audience that the couples were now in functioning relationships, caused by a major plot event. 

Personally, I would've preferred to see how the characters got to where they are, instead of being told that the threat of death made them realise their priorities and then see them kiss.

I really liked how the characters developed and got more loveable to the reader; their actions seemed to make sense in the context of their character, and the development of their actions made sense. 

The romance itself felt a bit rushed to me, but it is still enjoyable, if somewhat frustrating because it doesn't go very in-depth and fails to resolve or address certain topics.

The book mentions a few tidbits that fans of Arthurian legends will recognise, which I thought was very nice. 

All in all an enjoyable read, in my opinion this book would've been 5/5 stars had it been 200 pages longer and actually explored the relationships and worldbuilding further. But then again I really like high-fantasy and worldbuilding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Outing, Sexism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry

shaipanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

I absolutely loved this and desperately need to read the other books in Lex Croucher's backlist. The characters and story were incredibly well crafted, the character development was really well done and I felt the chemistry between the characters. As I go into more in the spoiler section, the only issue I had with this book was that there were some plot threads that didn't seem to really come to fruition which was a bit frustrating but overall this was an amazing read and definitely still a 5 star read for me :)

The only issue I had with this book is that there were a few details that were mentioned (especially regarding Merlin and Morgana which were never explained or really brought into the story. With the way they were being written about, I thought they were going to end up being shapeshifters or some significant part of the story but then that never really came to fruition.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Homophobia, Blood, and Sexism

Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

lena_and_her_books's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I liked the book but I HATED that it wasn't longer. It ended way to abruptly in my opinion... I would have loved to stay with the characters a bit longer... maybe we get a second book..

also the book could have been gayer

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, War, Mental illness, Vomit, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

lena_loves_reading's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Alcohol

booksbeyondthebinary's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Blood, and Sexism

Minor: Child abuse, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

sophie42's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Hate crime

_teoeo's review against another edition

funny lighthearted 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? Yes

3.75

The dialogues really were peak comedy! When I started that book I didn't think I would relate to Arthur this much 🤠

But the story was really slow and sometimes dragged on, so it was a little hard for me to get through the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Suicidal thoughts, War, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Incest

lia_24's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense 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

Was expecting a cutesy little romance and got hit with ✨trauma✨ but it was worth it 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Homophobia, War, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Child abuse

the_ash37's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Gore, and Child abuse

chronicacademia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Death, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Homophobia, Violence, Medical content, Sexism, War, Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Outing

Minor: Incest