Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable

24 reviews

queenkath32's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Outing, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Bullying, and Toxic friendship

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

clemrain's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.75

Expressive art, underdeveloped and overwhelming story.

The first third of the book was painful to get through. The second third picked up. And the last third sped through everything.

It took me a month to finish this, and that included me pushing through the first hundred pages over three days, not reading it for a month and completing the rest of the book slowly over two hours.

There was just a lot going on in this story and it would’ve been much better if the story arc spanned volumes instead of just pages of one volume.

I did not enjoy the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Death of parent, Biphobia, Bullying, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Vomit, Grief, and Sexual content

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

livcbrown's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Religious bigotry, Death, Transphobia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Deadnaming, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Outing

ryanseub's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Transphobia

vaniavela's review against another edition

emotional medium-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? Yes

3.0

I found the art charming and expressive. There is a lot of emotion in their body language and expressions, which brings the story to life, compensating for aspects of the plot that were not to my total liking.

There is a lot of relationship drama in this graphic novel, as well as strong themes of homophobia and transphobia. 

I don't know how to rate it, but it was a decent read.

CW: Graphic=Transphobia, Homophobia, Religious bigotry. Moderate= Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Death of parent. Minor= Bullying, Child abuse, Death 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Deadnaming, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Death, Child abuse, and Bullying

kas_the_crow19's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Transphobia