Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Sunburn

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth

9 reviews

cecereads__'s review against another edition

4.5

Sunburn is both literal and metaphorical with the mc and first person pov, Lucy, experiencing the gloriously bright sun that’s making her come alive, and the subsequent redness/mark and constant sting that can follow if we’re not careful; if we don’t take care of ourselves enough.

I really loved this. An Irish setting is always going to get me.

A sapphic coming-of-age story including all that comes with first love (eagerness, starry-eyes, forevers, intensity, etc) and with small-town mindsets and religious upbringings.

I know that Martin wasn’t told until the end for a reason. He’s a gem btw. I still wonder what he would have said about it being a shared secret he was in on to stop his heart from breaking too. Idk. Obviously Lucy was not ready to deal with her feelings even when time told her how she would still grow out of the town and the ppl with or without Susannah

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jo_lzr's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

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

The prose in the book is very poetic. This book describes love and sorrow and portrays everything in a realistic way. Both Lucy and Susannah have their flaws but they are also both humans, trying to navigate life and out of being teenagers into adulthood. Do not read this book if you don't like reading about protagonists who make wrong or immoral decisions.

It's heartbreaking how having no choice but to survive can turn a person into someone they don't even recognize. I think that this story could have also worked as Lucy's villain origin story. I liked the happy ending, I just wish we could have gotten to see more of them now that they have met again. Though, I do understand that it will take them time to get together, since they're both different now.

Recommended songs to listen while reading this book:
Altar - Kehlani
Melt - Kehlani
Making The Bed - Olivia Rodrigo
Not Strong Enough - Boygenius
Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan
loml - Taylor Swift
So Long London - Taylor Swift
Guilty As Sin? - Taylor Swift
illicit affairs - Taylor Swift
How Did It End? - Taylor Swift
my tears ricochet - Taylor Swift
Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? - Taylor Swift
Anti-Hero - Taylor Swift
High Infidelity - Taylor Swift
Is It Over Now? - Taylor Swift
Say Don't Go - Taylor Swift
I Know Places - Taylor Swift
cardigan - Taylor Swift
Dear Reader - Taylor Swift
tolerate it - Taylor Swift
coney island - Taylor Swift
ivy - Taylor Swift
October Passed Me By - girl in red

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directorpurry's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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dani794's review

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3.75

“This Summer is breaking my heart into pieces, to reveal a new and better heart that only beats for her.”

the story was really nice and heartbreaking.
i had an issue with the prose, it felt very “tell not show” and i felt like i didn’t work too hard since a majority of things were told to me. But there were some moments that were written very poetically that they were emotional to read.

Poor Martin 😭

The obsession with spit and the part where Susannah was obsessed with the dirt under Lucy’s nails that she was biting out was ???? uhhh…
I mean you do you.

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hookerkitty's review

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emotional funny hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I don’t think there’s a single person I’ve been attracted to, male or female, who made me obsessed with their spit or want to be masticated by them.

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americattt's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

“If only I had never spotted the torturous loveliness of her. If only I wasn’t afraid to look inside myself, that way I might know better who I am. As it stands, I don’t know whether I might want a boy or another girl, or whether my heart has been spoiled beyond any other love by Susannah. How can I defend myself to Mother when I don’t understand what I’m defending? How is it that when you grow up and get stuck in love, that love is forgotten about? My love now seems to be an aggressive, political thing. It is the ceaseless search for an identity and then committing to that identity. It is a fight to exist in my own home. Is that not exhausting? Is it worth it?”

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bookishpip's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

I received this book as a gift and I’m so glad that I did.

This is an absolutely gorgeous, heartwarming and heartbreaking account of growing up in a small Irish village. Very insular and religious, Lucy feels discomfort at the expectations of the people around her. She can’t understand why - until one summer when she begins to grow closer to her school friend, Susannah.

It’s an incredibly insightful account of coming to terms with a queer identity in the face of prejudice and discrimination. The fight between being true to herself and her love for Susannah or being accepted by everyone she knows and loves, is an internal turmoil so intimate and true to so many in the LGBTQ+ community, even today.

Although I’m so glad that this book exists and was so thankful to read this (and easy 5*!), go easy with this if LGBTQ+ discrimination (especially linked to religion) might be triggering for you.

🧡

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serendipitysbooks's review

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emotional reflective 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

Sunburn is a beautifully written sapphic coming of age story. Lucy has grown up in a small rural Irish town. Everyone expects her to marry her childhood best friend Martin. However in her teen years she develops an intense relationship with Susannah. As a reader you really want them to be together. Yet Lucy is unsure of herself, her feelings, and what she wants to do with her life. And this is Ireland in the early 1990s so publicly admitting her feelings for Susannah would almost certainly have resulted in ostracism. While I was sometimes frustrated by Lucy I could always understand exactly where she was coming from and why she was making the decisions she did. The real highlight of this novel was the depiction of the relationship between Lucy and Susannah. It was gorgeous, tender, passionate and utterly romantic, especially the letters between the two of them.

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seventhswan's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Read #2 for book group, 3.5 stars: I've never felt so disappointed to have quite liked a book. From the synopsis I thought I would love it, and the first half of the book held up to this expectation, but as the story went on, the plot got sillier and the pace got stranger, until by the end of the book I felt frustrated and let down. Some of the prose didn't do it for me either - although that's more of a taste thing - while other parts, particularly Lucy and Susannah's letters, were beautifully crafted. I enjoyed the setting very much and admire any writer who can make me feel a bit sorry for a man, but like actual sunburn, this book was patchy.

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