Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Older (Deluxe Edition) by Jennifer Hartmann

9 reviews

kimmytanzone's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail

desertangel83's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I absolutely flew through this standalone book.

The TENSION was soooo good. You get forced proximity and the will they or won’t they for chapters and chapters. 

The spice was well paced through the book and I was really rooting for there to be a HEA for all the characters at the end.

My fellow older millennials are going to love this as it’s set in the late 90s and has an accompanying playlist. The absence of cell phones was a lovely reprieve too.

This was such a nice pallet cleanser after slogging through a too long fantasy/romance series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse

leauxtales's review against another edition

2.5

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Unfortunately, I just didn’t eat this up like I thought I would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse

michelles_booknook's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Medical content

Minor: Animal death

miranda_luvsbks56's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I would get so annoyed with Halley at times where a typical teenager wants to be treated like an adult yet acted like a child…. Then again some adults still act like children. I didn’t care about the age gap. Yeah it would be super weird because how do you talk to your best friend about your love life… you know because it’s her dad and that’s yucky. I did love Whitney because she was there for everyone putting everyone first. I think that’s because of what she did to Reed. You really don’t know what you’ve lost till it’s truly gone. I would know what I would lose!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Car accident, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Grief

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Abortion, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment

dunndiggity's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The writing of this book is beautiful and the relationships brought to life within its pages are so vivid. My favorite and first 5 star read of 2025.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

cortney9812's review against another edition

1.25

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse

smartcookiesca's review against another edition

3.0

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death

paperbacksandsnacks's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I picked this book up and then didn’t put it down until hours later when I’d finished it. Are you JOKING?  I didn’t sleep! 

This is my first Jennifer Hartmann and definitely won’t be the last. The writing style was so so beautiful and poetic. I was emotional the whole way through, seeing the way Halley fought so hard to overcome her harrowing childhood and the way she found a family after all that time. The message of finding the joy in all the little moments (blips) was so poignant too. Capture moments always ❤️

I loved the characters so much, and I was rooting for them all. But the love between Reed and Halley was so palpable I honestly just wanted to wrap them both up and assure them it was all gonna be okay and that they’d be okay in the end. I was also so tense because I just kept waiting for their secret to be revealed and I was preparing for the heartbreak. Just super emotive and deep writing. It felt like more than just an age gap romance. Lots of beautiful quotes and life lessons within. 

The warnings for this book are severe. If any theme of abuse is too much for you then I wouldn’t read this. It’s so so sad and doesn’t hide a single reality so please be careful with your hearts ❤️

*I have put adult/minor relationship  in the warnings as in this book the FMC starts out being 17 (although the relationship doesn’t fully begin here) for where I live, and the state the story is set this age is legal but I wanted to just put that out there for those of you who may feel differently*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Car accident, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship