Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable

10 reviews

bobabunnie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

accurate messy queer teen high school drama (source: i also went to catholic school in morristown nj)

my only complaints are that the ending seemed to be concluding for forever, and a couple of jokes in places that didn’t seem fitting— but otherwise, good story!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia

Moderate: Infidelity, Outing, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, and Domestic abuse

rachelditty's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

I really enjoyed this! I didn't know anything about it before reading; I only knew it was queer. I was surprised when the first half wasn't centered around anything LGBT+, and more focused on something strange happening to Mads' family circumstances. But as things unfolded and Mads' worldviews were dissected, I started liking the story more and more. Religion especially was used in a way I'd never really seen before--the main character interacts with members of the church who are bigoted, but still attends mass because she feels it's a place where she is part of a community and things can really feel safe for her.  I thought the story was really well done, and even the more disrespectful aspects of the characters' views were portrayed super well and wrapped up neatly. So glad I read this, it was awesome.

Quotes I liked:

"Was it worse to leave him like that or to tell him he was ust part of a sciece experiment? A baking soda volcano, thrown together last minute, without thought. Without care." (p. 237)

"I could have pushed harder, gotten mom to let me stay home. But maybe I wanted to be judged. Maybe I knew the scale of 1 to 10 didn't even come close to being able to rank what I had done." (p. 244)

"Or I can just be myself, and tell people, 'Hey, I'm Amanda! And I happen to be gay!' Maybe even reverse it. 'Hey, I'm gay! And I happen to be Amanda!'" (p. 262).

"Dad was right. Always choose flying over invisibility." (p. 271).

"We don't get to choose who we love. But sometimes we get lucky and fall for someone wonderful." (p. 280).

"Kinda crazy that I had ever thought I was alone." (p. 291).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Deadnaming, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Outing

marshiereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Outing, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Sexual assault, and Hate crime

danicampbell0506's review

emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Outing, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

bookishsapphicshay's review

adventurous reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Incest

pinkupengu's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Deadnaming, Outing, Violence, Biphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Physical abuse

Disrespectful representation on trans individual

flamesocks's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, and Transphobia

arlangrey17's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Outing, Physical abuse, Transphobia, and Vomit

kaitlyn_ann's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

I really enjoyed this, but I found it quite slow in some parts, but found the ending to be incredibly rushed

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Deadnaming

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

ehmannky's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.0

On the whole, I really liked this graphic novel. It tackles a lot of topics that are incredibly difficult in a way that extends empathy to most everyone involved (except the terrible bigot grandparents, who can choke). And the art is lovely and compliments the story so well.  I do agree with most people here that the cover for this does not really match the content within. The cover promises a kind of romcom kind of vibe, when it's a much more serious study of acceptance, homophobia, family, coming of age and coming out.

I would love to read a review by a trans reviewer to see how the trans subplot is handled since the character is dead named, and to the best of my knowledge, neither creators were trans. I deeply related to the queer girl at the center of the story and felt it was handled with grace. I would just like a deeper review of that. I also don't know how I feel about 

how quickly the dad is forgiven for ignoring his daughter for weeks after she's outed (though I did love her mom so very much). But everyone has their own journey I suppose.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Violence, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse