Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

There Is No Devil by Sophie Lark

5 reviews

spatterson7's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Body horror, Gore, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Suicide, Torture, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Grief, Self harm, and Alcoholism

smcrain's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

 Hrm, maybe 3.75 stars here. There are things I like about this series and things I don't. It's not life changing by any stretch, but was it enjoyable? Yes, I was interested enough to keep going all the way through both books. As I said there's a personal humor to the setting of them being fine artists, this continues that line for me in the second book with the of the art shows, interviews, a flashback to art school. I will give Ms. Lark props for either having some art experience, or having done some research into it; because there's definitely a few times where I had the thought that the author must make art. Another thing I enjoy in this series, not just this book, is overall the dynamic between Cole and Mara. I really enjoyed how they changed one another over the course of the book.

Honestly, Cole changed more than Mara, or Mara's felt a little less believable, but

I enjoyed that aspect. I'm honestly not one to highlight or mark passages in books, but I will say that there are some really nice lines and thoughts sprinkled throughout this series. There were several moments, that gave me pause to where I would read a line and think, "I would highlight this" if I were that type of reader. Overall, I like Sophie Lark's idea of a dark but healthy relationship.

Things I didn't like, and this isn't dislikes so much as maybe didn't quite hit the mark for me. The backstories.

I mean it's honestly a hard sell to write someone so broken and abused that they resort to murder. It's not the author's fault I've read it in other works, usually fan works, but still it rarely convinces me. This was kind of no exception. Also, I don't know if it's just a truth universally known that stepfather's are a$$holes? or it just so happens that mine also fit this mold so well, that it just seemed too cliche for me. God, somewhere out there there has to be decent men who don't emotionally abuse and treat their step kids like sh*t. Okay, I know it's totally not a fault of the author's that this stuff hit too close to home for me, that my coping mechanism is to scoff.

Again overall I enjoyed the book. Some of the stuff seemed sped through, the coping of some deaths way too fast, but at the same time I don't think I would care/want to read through the actual emotional reaction to that. So while I'm like this seems too unrealistic, I'm also like okay with it being omitted. WOW, I'm such a demanding reader. 

I will say, and my favorite thing about this series, is that there are actual book illustrations sprinkled throughout the works. I applaud Sophie Lark for supporting artists and illustrators. That really put a smile on my face. Do the characters look like I imagined in my head, not exactly, no. But did she commission someone to illustrate her work; Yes, and for that I'll be looking at her other works, because now more than ever it's hard for illustrators to get work. I love that she's supporting artists in that way.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, and Child abuse

julianacosta_01's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Sexual content, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Alcoholism, Blood, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

shasta2292's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.75

The additional of songs to listen along to scenes is brilliant. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death, and Sexual violence

sam019'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Good sequel and loved the ending! Super good story but there was just something about it that I felt was missing but I don't even know what so I'm just rating it 4 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Stalking, and Suicide