Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould

18 reviews

maddiegyoms's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I loved how The Dead and the Dark tells a story about how the hate we put into the world creates a darkness that can be so overpowering/overwhelming that we cave to it. This story is more than just a paranormal murder mystery, it's about acceptance; acceptance of who you are, of who other people are. We all make mistakes, even if we think it's better for someone else, but owning up to it and making a change for the better is what ultimately prevails.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Child death, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Bullying

Minor: Abandonment

satsumaorange's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

I love ghosts, I love gay people, I love

evil supernatural mind control

. What more could I want? 
I wasn't a huge fan of the audiobook narrator's tone, but I got past that eventually. Logan's dads were the best part of the book, I loved whenever they were in a scene. Gay rights and dead kids! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Bullying, and Grief

Moderate: Biphobia, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood, Police brutality, Classism, and Gun violence

pagelikebooks's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Child death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

piphux's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, Violence, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Police brutality, Abandonment, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol and Panic attacks/disorders

marcostorin's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This book felt like watching a good thriller/horror movie with lots of well-handled social commentary. I couldn't put it down after I started it. I think my favorite part - besides how fun it was to read the book - is that it makes you face your (internalised in my case) homophobia. I think the best way to read this book too is without knowing much about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Murder, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Alcohol, Biphobia, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Stalking

frantically's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

My highlight was definitely Ashley and Logan's relationship and I wish we could've spent more time with them. The paranormal element was interesting but a bit too little developed for me and I felt like everyone accepted it's existence (or the existence of any real paranormal activity) wayyy too quickly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Homophobia, Gun violence, and Child death

Minor: Grief and Alcohol

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Paranormal small town murder mystery. A married gay couple return to their terrible small town in the buttcrack of Oregon with their adopted daughter.

The romance in this felt completely unnecessary and did little to nothing for the plot. I didn't connect with any of the characters and didn't much care what happened to any of them. 
The plot surrounding the mystery wasn't bad. 
The pacing is weird sometimes--very slow and then time jumps of days and weeks. 

The ending was so weirdly happy and didn't feel like it fit. I get that a Happy Ending is always nice and most people want those but I would've preferred if it ended it a more tentative, maybe almost wary open ending

Additional CW: Drowning, attempted murder

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Blood, Kidnapping, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol

pomegranite's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

Sometimes when you read something, you can tell it's the authors first real work. The Dead and The Dark screams debut novel, from bad pacing, short chapters, straight to the point sentences, and telling instead of showing... I felt it could really use some work. The first 25 chapters or so really bored me and I had a hard time caring for the characters. I also couldn't really tell how the two characters were ment to end up together, as there was no chemistry or reason for them to even be near eachother. But as time went on and the more I read, the more I enjoyed. Once the book got to where it needed to be I didn't really put down the book, I zipped through the chapters and began to enjoy what I was reading. But then again bad pacing struck, and it really put a damper on things. But I'm not cruel, I didn't hate this book. I thought the author had a good idea with this story, and I enjoyed the family dynamic between Logan and her dad's... and I wish we saw more of it actually. I also really love how queer this story was. One of the main characters is a lesbian with two dad's and the other main is sapphic, and they end up together as a cute couple. All in all? I didn't love this book, I wish it was longer and had more builf but I didn't hate it either. It was a solid read that I don't regret, and it didn't put a bad taste in my mouth when I was finished. It did what it was supposed to as a young adult novel, and if I read this when I was younger? I probably would have loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying and Alcohol

Minor: Child death

grimdark_dad's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Moderate: Alcohol, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, and Murder

ashthemenace's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

I read this book in a day. I haven’t done that in YEARS, but it was impossible to put down!! It was so easy to get into it and keep reading it. Pretty much all the characters were likeable, and if they weren’t, you at least didn’t hate them.

except for the Sheriff. But you’re supposed to dislike him at the end.> It doesn’t waste time on descriptions and there was no point in time where I ever caught asking why the author included something.  This review is so bad because I can’t even really gather my thoughts on this book. But it was PHENOMENAL. Do yourself a favor and read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Hate crime, and Gun violence

I’m not sure if the gun violence tag counts for this book, but there technically is an act of violence committed using the gun, even if it wasn’t shot, so I counted it.