Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb

23 reviews

beepbeep101's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Confinement, Gun violence, Police brutality, Ableism, and Racial slurs

Minor: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Suicide

herzeloyde's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This had a little bit of everything for me, and I loved the ending. I’m always rooting for the underdog, so for me, while the historical events were awful, I loved how Josephine got all that she wanted, even if that wasn’t how she wanted to get it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Death, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Violence, Torture, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Drug use, and Mental illness

d_nice_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

This book would have more compelling if it had been shorter. Bern was not a sympathetic protagonist and the contemporary part of the novel was too drawn out. Also, Eboni’s Bronx accent in the audiobook lacked authenticity.

Conversely, the black male protagonist doubting the sharp instincts of the black female supporting character was all too authentic.

I loved Josephine

and I’m glad she eventually asserted herself with Freddy

. But even the historical chapters could have been trimmed.

We get it, Freddy/Fred/Fredric was a dick and either didn’t believe or didn’t care that he exploited Josephine.

But how many chapters of proof did we need? 

I stayed through the end but just to hear the conclusion. This easily could have been a DNF, and the book’s editor would have been just as if not more responsible for the abandonment than the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Ableism, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Racism, and Toxic friendship

thrillofthepage's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Racism, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

Minor: Classism, Gun violence, Death, Bullying, Sexism, Alcohol, Misogyny, and Murder

shirarweiss's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was suspenseful and compelling, and I wanted to know what happened next. However, I didn’t necessarily like it? It was really hard to read - it made me so upset. I just wanted to get through it. It did make me think a lot about music, artistry, history, power, and narrative control. I found Bern kind of annoying, and I was so angry about Josephine’s treatment that I could hardly read it. I want an entire book that’s just Josephine’s POV. I loved the dual timeline and multiple POVs. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Mental illness

spuriousdiphthongs's review

challenging mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Racism, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Death, Cursing, and Cultural appropriation

scmiller's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Cultural appropriation, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Murder, Sexism, Death, and Violence

Minor: Drug abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Classism, and Suicide

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious

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

5.0

I read the Violin Conspiracy last year and loved it. When I saw Symphony of Secrets, I knew I had to read it. And it was fascinating. I loved the twists and turns, though I would have loved for one of them to have been fully revealed to the 'now' audience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Racism, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Mental illness

rachelkreadsbookz's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism