Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis

7 reviews

amberinpieces's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gun violence, and Medical content

Minor: Cursing, Bullying, Alcohol, Car accident, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

minniestronni's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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: Abandonment, Classism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

imstephtacular's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Tiffany D Jackson meets Stephen King. What a ride! I love fantasy grounded in reality and this delivered. This is DARK and devastating, but also a powerful and nuanced look at real issues like poverty, foster care, abuse, and privilege. I look forward to Lewis’ sophomore novel in 2023

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Gore

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, Dysphoria, Grief, Misogyny, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Minor: Sexism and Vomit

froggydanny's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Abandonment, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

bookswhitme's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

porshea's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Growing up Black and a young woman is not for the faint of heart. Jessica Lewis, author of Bad Witch Burning, attests to this fact, pulling details from her own life to share Katrell, the protagonist of this novel, with the world. 

Katrell is 16 going on 17 in modern day Alabama and her world is nowhere near as idyllic as the life led by Liesl von Trapp, although the love she has for those near her is just as complicated. As we begin the story, Katrell is still reeling from her mother’s decision to rely on the meager earnings she and her mother’s boyfriend, Gerald, bring in months after being laid off from a retail job. Though recent, nothing about this dynamic is new for Katrell, who has found herself consumed by concerns about making rent and enough money to cover utilities and other basic needs for most of her life. Because of her restaurant job and phantasmal connections she makes for clients, Katrell is unable to truly focus on school and plans to drop out as soon as she turns 17 in order to keep her mother from going to court. Circumstances take on a more dire dimension when Katrell stands up to Gerald and her powers amplify from simple communion with the dead to their resurrection. Seizing an entrepreneurial opportunity in bringing people back from the beyond, Katrell is soon raking in enough money to cover rent for the year in addition to the other expenses she’s been worried about. However, using her powers in such an extreme way puts a lot of wear and tear on her body—clouding much of her thinking and how well she manages school and work—something that does not go unnoticed by those who care for her.

Read more here: https://blackgirlscreate.org/2021/08/the-plot-thickens-bad-witch-burning/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

allisonwonderlandreads's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Well, shit. This book is unlike any other book I've read. Technically YA contemporary fantasy, this is the story of Katrell. Her power of writing letters to summon the dead gets a sudden, unexplained upgrade, seemingly leading to full-on resurrections. Katrell is the main money-earner for her and her mother and her mother's boyfriend, so she is relieved at the new potential business venture to make rent and keep the power on. Despite Katrell's best efforts to keep everything under control, both the living and the undead have other plans, and everything starts to spiral.

I see people write in reviews sometimes "this book wrecked/destroyed me," and I admit that is not a common reaction I have when reading, but in this case, exceptions must be made. I've been razed to the ground by this book. The gut-wrenching author's note and dedication at the beginning had me sitting up and paying attention even before page 1, and the story held my undivided attention for the duration-- a great feat, indeed. This book is not for the faint of heart. I was crying before the 10% mark, and that was far from the last time. I didn't track every time I cried because how ridiculous would that be... but it happened again in the final pages of the book, so at least we can agree it was intermittent right until the bitter but hopeful end. I attribute the emotional reaction not only to the content of the story but also to the author's vivid, cutting writing and matter-of-fact narration. There are no frills, just brutal honesty.

Let me give you some less emotional, more cogent points about why you should read this one: Katrell is savvy, hard-headed, and loyal. Her responsibilities weigh her down, with no horizon in sight. This is her difficult, gruesome journey towards something better. It's about accepting help and support, and realizing there is something better to look forward to, an unconditional love that is reciprocated and deserved. In a rare move for a young adult book, there is no romantic plot, the focus on friendship and (found) family and self-love.

This book is not meant to be an easy read. Trigger warnings include physical and emotional abuse, neglect, animal death, murder, and extreme poverty. If you are in a place to pick this one up, it's a powerful read, one that has thoroughly lodged itself in my mind, maybe my soul.

Thanks to Delacorte and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, out 8/24.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Drug abuse