Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

9 reviews

chaoticgobzy's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

carbinara's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Such a fun halloween read! I was perhaps after a little more mystery and a little less on the nose, but to be honest that’s my own fault; I know Hendrix tends to write quite explicit on the page scares. Clearly not that much of an issue though, as I always finish his books having enjoyed reading them. 

Loved the relationship between Louise and her daughter,

especially how it effected how she treated Pupkin come the end of the story. I’m glad after all the horror we still have this little nugget of warmth to sign off on.

Also in general loved the extended family and Mark, although Mercy was a personal favourite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic friendship

popham05's review

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death and Car accident

Minor: Self harm, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and War

shubka's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book definitely makes me never want to be around puppets or dolls ever again! Full of twists & turns I never could have guessed. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Torture, Grief, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

kermittuesday's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.0

It was well done but just not my thing. I rate books based on how much I personally liked them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

alexisgarcia's review

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

this was pretty good but a little too silly to really scare me. i’ve never thought dolls were scary so this didn’t get to me that much, i also thought the ending was kind of out of nowhere?? idk. i do love Hendrix’s writing though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dleigh35's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Toxic friendship

julieyael's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

3.5 stars but rounded up

This is a book that I took time to really appreciate. 
The first half of it (that’s the first 200 pages!) were just ok. It’s a bit slow and I did not care too much for the characters. 
For a moment, I even thought about not finishing the book, because I felt that this was not what I expected from the story. 

But then it becomes more intriguing and you feel that there is more to it. 
When you enter the last third of the book, it becomes hard to leave it. 
I wished the slow part of the begining was not that long, because it’s all well written and you feel the creepy atmosphere building up. 

In the end, the book kept its promises, it’s a fun and creepy horror novel, with a good dose of paranormal, and a light touch of gory details (very light, but I guess it can be triggering for some people)

So I would recommend it, if you are ready to spend some time on the first part which is less exciting and a bit long to my taste. 
The second half of it really deserves a good 4 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore

Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

nrogers_1030's review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.25

Meh…
I usually love G.H.’s books, but not this one. Slow, mostly unlikeable characters, not scary… I could keep going, but it would be a moot point. I did have a soft spot for the great aunt. She reminded me of Roz from Monsters, Inc. His sense of humor helped the rating. I wouldn’t recommend this one, but I’ve enjoyed several of his others & have every intention of reading his next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Vomit, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma