Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Sunburn

Holy jesus christ. this book took me a few chapters to get into but once i did oh man did it hit hard. i related to Lucy in SOO many ways and highlighted so many phrases and thoughts from her. this deep attachment to susannah and the feeling that she was some sort of god, until she realised susannah saw her in exactly the same way. it was so beautiful. the ending chapters TORE me apart and the ambiguous ending left me wanting more. i’m honestly so glad i persevered with this read cause BOY was it worth it!
i highly recommend to any girls out there who have ever fallen for another girl and felt so deeply entrenched in their desire that nothing could be stronger. i am crumbling at this book… in the best way possible.

Content Warnings

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

Content Warnings

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

Content Warnings

jordanbolker's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

A beautiful coming out story that everyone should read! The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was that there was more internal dialogue and narration than actual dialogue. But it was beautiful, raw, emotional and I loved it overall. One of my favorite summer reads!

Content Warnings

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.

Content Warnings

fee1111's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Stop it was so good omg it's also irish and full of small town culture so you know it's going to pull at the heartstrings i mean I've never read a book set in this country that wasn't determined to be depressing yet hopeful the Sally Rooney depresso has a chokehold on us as a nation

Content Warnings

e11en's review against another edition

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challenging 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

4.5

Content Warnings

milliemarilyn's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

I listened to this as an audiobook through Libby. The sentence by sentence craft of this is incredible, if I had the physical copy I know it would be covered in highlights and notes.

However it was too much of a slow burn for me and the last third was a bit of a slog to finish. I completely understand the positive reviews though and wish I enjoyed it more

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