Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

48 reviews

_bobatea_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Cancer, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual harassment, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Body shaming, and Kidnapping

eligru's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.25

So fun! I'm all here for Luc's sense of humor and extremely Bristish similes, the quirky friend groups and Bridget's bookish crises :D
Excited to see what they all get up to in the next book😁

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Homophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Abandonment, and Eating disorder

Minor: Cancer

annahamburger's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Classism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent and Death

thebookpaiges's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Cancer and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder

cloudbunny's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful tense fast-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

3.75

This book seemingly starts with a buzzword every third word which, to be quite honest, is a bit much for me and I almost gave up on it. I ended up reading it anyway because I was having a bad time and wanted to feel something, and I'm glad I did.

It goes from 'haha you get it right gays?' to INCREDIBLY RELATABLE at speed that will give you whiplash. I became completely invested in the MC's journey, his struggles with his fears, past experiences, and depression, and I think in the end he comes out remarkably well. 

His love interest also is a delight, and I love the way the story changes as the MC (and we) grow closer to him and learn to see deeper behind the facade (oddly similar to my own journey through this read). 

The rough start sort of sets a poor lens on the MC, and that's not aided by the way his voice is just ever-so-slightly still patronising to lgbt+ internet users throughout the rest of the book, but overall this was a decent and easy read with a lot of emotion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Homophobia

Fair warning, the descriptions of depression and feelings of unlovability felt by the MC are real as hell and half of the reason I read it so fast is so I didn't have to stop and mope and cry. Be warned if you've also got depression that this one hits hard.

lim's review

fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Gaslighting, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abandonment and Infidelity

jacksons_books_and_music's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a wonderful read! I adored the characterization, humor, and emotional vulnerability. I definitely plan on reading the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Abandonment, and Homophobia

Minor: Eating disorder

Love interest has an eating disorder. It’s not talked about a lot, but it’s there and it’s addressed. Love interest’s parents are superficially supporting of his homosexuality, but their microaggressions are many and intense, even though they’re only around for one scene. The main character really struggles with mental health, mainly in the form of depression and difficulty trusting others, and his lack of self worth.

bacchusvines's review

emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

alexelli's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted 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

3.5

Has a good plot, fake boyfriend to real boyfriend trope. Good character development, they developed individually and together. Building a relationship together but also building there own personal relationships. Luc’s friends get tossed to the side a lot, only being part of the story when he needs something from them. There is a lot of casual homophobia that they brush over. He will mention it in small call outs but doesn’t really stand up for himself or others. Let’s it happen and makes a small comment and moves on. Not comfortable as a queer person reading. The friends are mostly queer but it feels like a token queer friend stretched into a queer friend group that of course a gay guy would have. Also a weird toss in at the end about Oliver maybe having an eating disorder. Wouldn’t be as bad if more time had been taken to talk about this or if mental health was an overall theme but it seemed like a weird toss in of buzzwords. So overall a good plot but a lot of small issues with writing. Feels like a straight woman writing a straight story and changing the characters last minute. Good read, just not perfect.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Terminal illness, Cancer, Chronic illness, Abandonment, and Addiction

Minor: Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Mental illness

pettie's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Homophobia