Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

59 reviews

caroleheidi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

kys831's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Slavery

_bailey_reads_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book…. Wow. I am stunned by how well written this book is.  

There are so many things I could say about this book. I loved it so much. It will always hold a special place in my heart, mostly because it hurt me deeply to my core. 

I highly recommend reading this book but only if you are in a good mental health space. It is extremely triggering! I felt very healed by how relatable I found Vanessa at points but mad because of how upset her character made me. She is such a complex and well written character and is such a realistic depiction of someone struggling with PTSD and severe trauma. 

Kate Elizabeth Russell, did a phenomenal job at depicting what a real therapist & client relationship actually looks and sounds like. The first accurate one I’ve ever read in a book. It blew me away. Ruby is Vanessa’s therapist. The dynamic between the two characters was brilliant and very thought out and realistic! The language and descriptions in this novel are so beautiful and made me my heart hurt. 

It’s the most disturbing book I’ve ever read 

Warning ** Do Not Read if you are in a bad mental health space. Please be gentle if you have gone through any type of abuse. I wish someone would’ve warned me before reading. It’s HIGHLY triggering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

bellam_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

lentilsoup's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

There is the time before I read MDV and the time after I read MDV. It changed my life and left such a huge impact on me. The way the author articulated Vanessa’s thoughts and feelings resonated so hard at times. I wish I had read this book sooner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Stalking, Misogyny, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Grief, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, and Death

meg_64's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

Minor: Self harm

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

3.25

For a book that deals with such graphic themes as grooming.  This book was well written.  Did it make me uncomfortable? Yes. But that’s because the topic is a literal crime and your reading it from the victims point of view.   Following Vanessa’s grief and coming to terms with her trauma from start to finish. This book deals with the theme very well without the morbid romanticisation like we get with authors like coho.  Overall I can’t bash this book other than ensure you check triggers as this is dark and when you think it can’t get darker it will

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

reburkah's review

slow-paced

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

1.0

As a few other reviewers have said, this book is hard to rate because the subject matter is so serious and sensitive. That said, I didn't think this was written in a way that did any service to the message it is trying to convey. I know the excuse is that Vanessa has been groomed but it's simply not a realistic portrayal of someone who has been abused in my experience. She makes several decisions that are entirely bizarre and make it hard to sympathize with Vanessa. I also found the writing to be a bit amateur. The word 'ok' is used probably a thousand times in this book (I know it's nitpicking but I cannot stand when authors use ok instead of okay.) The author also says 'x-ing' out of a page three times instead of exiting, or even using leaving, minimizing, or closing. These things really took me out of the reading experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide

vanessasirup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Sexual content, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

madisfantasy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Self harm, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Suicide