Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl

20 reviews

mals_library's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Dementia

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

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

3.5

It was fun! I liked it! I wasn't riveted. Nice emotional twist at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Medical content, Sexual content, and Dementia

atlas_shruggs's review

dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

"She's a lost girl."... "She's not afraid of death because she doesn't think her life matters. Her world is black and gray. We're something other, so she looks at us and sees color."
As someone who would've probably been considered a lost girl at a point in my life, this book touched a little place in my heart that I didn't know needed the hug this book provided. It was a really nice, refreshing type of vampire book that I've only read once before in Heather Brewer's Fang Girl. It was funny, it didn't always take itself too seriously, but it still managed to be real and emotional, showing a side of immortality that I feel vampire media doesn't cover very often. I also found Parker and Holly's relationship very cute, if a bit instalove-y. It did definitely feel like a teenage romance, which it is. 
Rose is definitely my favourite of the group, followed closely by Stacey and then Parker. I just felt like they weren't really characters I've seen often, especially Rose, with her plants and pretty dresses and keeping dying men in her room as she feeds on them. 
Overall I would give it 5 stars simply because of how much I related to it, and how seen it made me feel. It felt like a healing hug, and I love it for that. I can't really see any glaring faults in it either. The found family is amazing, Ida's art projects are hilarious, and Elton can go die in a ditch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Dementia, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Dementia, and Animal cruelty

annieisawesome's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.5

The basic plot line was interesting. It felt badly executed. The writing felt very bad fan fiction-y. Also a lot of needless details. Definitely wouldn’t read again. I only finished it because it was short. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Grief, Misogyny, Alcohol, Animal death, and Blood

sssssoup's review

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

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

0.25

I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for months, and more than anything, I found it incredibly disappointing. When I first heard about it, the combination of ideas sounded like it would be really interesting and fun to read, but I found everything about it lacking.

The plot itself was fine, and I was okay with the resolution in the end, but there were a lot of glaring issues related to the vampire lore that took away from my enjoyment of the story.

Why did nobody in the town seem to care about all the murders? The vampires killed at least fifteen or twenty people during the story, which spanned less than a month. I know it’s fiction, so they can take some liberties when it comes to logic, but this was so glaring that I wasn’t willing to overlook it. Also, I know Holly was nowhere near as bad as Elton, but she still had a significant age gap with Parker, and I found it odd that that was never addressed.

The characters were also not very interesting. Despite all their trauma and the author’s attempts to make them sympathetic, I didn’t really feel bad for any of them. They seemed boring and shallow, and the fact that they all only got one distinct personality trait made them run together in my mind. 

Overall, I like the ideas present in the story, but the execution was lackluster and forgettable at best.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Misogyny, Sexism, Dementia, Sexual harassment, Bullying, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

clovelatte's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Blood, Violence, Murder, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Bullying

ednam0dewannabe's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, Murder, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Torture, Misogyny, Mental illness, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Dementia, and Domestic abuse

queerspoons's review

dark emotional funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Death, and Death of parent

layn_reads's review

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

I liked the first half of this book enough that I was going to give it 5 stars, but the second half kind of chipped points away for me. As always, I wanna start with the good aspects. The first of these being that this was campy and fun most of the time. I highlighted a ton of parts that made me laugh, there was so much of it that was darkly funny. Another thing I really liked were the two vampire "sidekicks" (but let's face it, they were kind of running shit) Ida and Rose. I thought they were far more interesting than our main character, whose name I kept forgetting 💀

The things that bugged me are as follows: the romance was weak. I felt like it was a little forced and I have an idea for a different route it could've taken that would make it better. I also think the book would've been better from Rose or Ida's point of view, or switching points of view, but I understand why it wasn't. There was also sexual content that made me uncomfortable. It didn't feel like it belonged in what I'm pretty sure is a YA novel, but maybe that's just me. Also, I found the way they disposed of their kills to be a little too convenient and unbelievable, even for a vampire story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Dementia, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying