Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao

11 reviews

vagaybond's review

challenging emotional reflective tense

• Strong character development? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Classism, Cancer, Body shaming, and Sexism

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Homophobia, Excrement, Misogyny, Medical content, and Violence

jackeline_cruz_'s review against another edition

emotional inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

Minor: Body shaming, Homophobia, and Cancer

blackveilbeccy's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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

4.75

This was a fantastic book and I loved both the main character and the love interest. The plot was a bit slow at times and I wasn’t a fan of the texting sections, but I did love the overall storyline. The villains of the piece were a little over the top. The parents of the main character, particularly the mother, were incredibly difficult to read due to the toxicity of the family dynamics -

I was so surprised every time she chose to keep her mother in her life rather than go no contact

as she was that bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Abortion, Blood, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

Toxic family, estrangement, family dysfunction

psistillreadyou's review

challenging emotional hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, and Sexism

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Racism and Homophobia

The toxic relationships are child-parent relationships. Frequent purity culture rhetoric. Brief mentions of HP and book banning.

yeojinqueen's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abortion and Alcohol

erynlasbelin's review

emotional funny 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Cancer, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, and Medical content

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

talknerdybookblog's review

emotional hopeful sad 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

3.5

Representation: Taiwanese-American Heroine, Hero and Supporting Characters

I struggled with how to rate Rent a Boyfriend because I think Gloria did an excellent job navigating the really difficult dilemma the Heroine, Chloe (Jing) was in. However, as a romance, I didn't really get why out of all the girls the Hero, Drew, was a fake boyfriend for, Chloe was The One. But, besides that snag, their relationship felt both cute and realistic. I liked how Gloria didn't shy away from the hard truths and assumptions most people hold (that college is the key to success, for example). The way Chloe reacted to Drew having dropped out to focus on his art was realistic and that people can give each other a little grace to get over their biases/assumptions.

Despite how cute the romance was, for most of the book I really was more focused on Chloe and hoping she found a way to live the life she wanted – which included her dreams and a relationship with her parents. I think Gloria did a great job illustrating how that can be possible but it requires a lot of effort and forgiveness on all sides. Rent a Boyfriend excellently demonstrated how important perspective is; in a critical moment to assert her autonomy over her life and future, Chloe makes a rash decision that has consequences on her parents' standing in their community. During the scene, I was breathing in relief that Chloe finally stood up for herself but a discussion with her mother showed how her emphasis on Chloe's purity was not only rooted in sexist values... in Chloe's mother's mind, she was protecting her daughter's future.

Overall, Rent a Boyfriend was cute but certainly more emotional and angsty than I assumed it would be.  

Safety Rating: Safe with Exceptions

• No cheating
• No OW drama
– But, the Hero does continue his fake boyfriend job, which the Heroine knows about.
• Does have OM drama
– Heroine's parents are trying to set her up with the extremely sexist only son of their elitist friends.
• Does have the Heroine pushing the Hero away
• Does have a separation between the Hero and Heroine

Possible Triggers: Yes

• Parental abandonment (Hero was kicked out of his house ~18-years-old)
• Really difficult relationship with parents
• Strong themes of sexism, including slut-shaming
• Fatphobia
• Classism
– Educational prejudice
• Brief mentions of homophobia and racism
• Cancer

Ending:

HFN

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Abortion, Homophobia, and Racism

taglharp's review

emotional funny inspiring fast-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

4.0

The commentary on Asian culture - specifically Asian parents! - and the struggle of being a second gen immigrant featured in this book... Priceless!

Also this was so funny and cute and heart warming and gut wrenching (so much of the conflict was so on point, as someone who is also Taiwanese, I was mildly triggered at times, ngel), that you have to read it. Besides that, Drew is so. Fucking. Precious (Send help level PRECIOUS). You NEED to meet him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Racism, Homophobia, and Xenophobia

plumpaperbacks's review

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Gloria Chao has done it again. She wrote a cute, fun contemporary about self-discovery, family, and romance that I devoured in only two sittings. I read nearly 70% in a couple of hours and would’ve finished the rest if I hadn’t needed to go to sleep.

Chao is brilliant at writing layered characters and complex relationships, protagonists and couples you can’t help but root for. She perfectly balances humor and emotion, and all of these things combined make for the perfect book for me. I also really appreciate the way Chloe and Drew handled conflict—they took a bit of time for themselves and then talked everything through. I know you can’t always expect such things in YA novels, but it’s refreshing to come across it from time to time.

Also, Chloe and Drew were just adorable. I loved their puns and banter. Couples that banter steal my heart basically every time, and they’re no exception. I could almost feel their chemistry as I read. It was definitely there.

I hope to own a copy of this book soon, and I can see myself rereading it in the future. I highly recommend Rent a Boyfriend, as well as Chao’s previous novels. I look forward to reading more from her, whenever that may be.

Representation

• Taiwanese-American protagonist, love interest, and side characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cancer and Medical content

Minor: Blood, Racism, Homophobia, and Drug abuse

nitya's review

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I am forever a sucker for the fake dating and friends to lovers tropes (with bonus soft boys who trust and respect women and can bake/cook!)

4 mooncakes! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Cancer and Toxic relationship

Minor: Homophobia

Toxic relationships are with family/community and a more one-sided "courtship" but thought I would warn for it. There's also a few references to the Harry Potter series (this book was most likely written before Rowling showed her ass but I will include it anyhow)