Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

3 reviews

mandi4886's review

adventurous emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Confinement, Death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Racism, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racial slurs, Blood, Grief, Sexism, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Body horror, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Abandonment, Ableism, Cursing, Gore, and Gun violence

Minor: Xenophobia, Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Stalking, Torture, and Vomit

emfass's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

2.0

I really wanted to like this book. I'm updating my review a week after finishing it--the more I think back to this book, the more I think it just overall didn't work for me. Both the romance and the spy plot weren't compelling to me; I was SO STRESSED for the two main characters at all times, and I didn't find the development of their relationship very convincing.

I did appreciate how Malcolm was maybe the first person to make Elle feel really seen, but otherwise I just was not impressed with where he sat in his privilege, and didn't think he grew enough to deserve to be with Elle. 

Also, for being a spy plot romance, I found things moved pretty slowly. The switching back and forth between trying to further the romance and trying to further the action felt choppy throughout. There was also so much redundancy in their inner monologues.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Death and Suicide

bookishjournal1's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Slavery