Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

14 reviews

bookfortbuilder's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Ableism, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Death, Blood, War, Physical abuse, Slavery, Cancer, and Injury/Injury detail

cdoubet's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, War, Genocide, Death, Physical abuse, Confinement, Grief, Medical content, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Torture, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Suicidal thoughts

kcmg710's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicide attempt, War, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Gore, Grief, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

hapalyn's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny

qrschulte's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyable book, but I didn’t love it as a whole. And I CALLED IT!

Things I loved: 
- a protagonist with a disability who is affected by their disability but not defined by it. So refreshing that she was a fully realized person
- the Rhen narrator. Honestly, the book might have been better with just him narrating the whole thing. 
- believable reasoning for why someone from our world could ride a fucking horse

Things I did not love: 
- How whiny the Harper narrator made her sound sometimes. It made it a lot less believable it was the same character between the narrators. 
- The monster narration (so fucking creepy/scary). Could have done without that. 
- The parts where it was said Harper was “not like other girls” *cue vomiting*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, War, Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Cancer, Suicide, Torture, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Self harm, Classism, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, and Stalking

Minor: Gun violence, Child death, and Infidelity

katievallin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Stalking, Alcohol, Gore, War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child death, Vomit, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Rape, and Ableism

thatbookbitch's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Cancer, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and War

Minor: Self harm, Blood, Alcohol, and Vomit

diana_raquel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.5

“The choices we face may not be the choices we want, but they are choices nonetheless.”

As I said in other reviews, Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales. Therefore, I'm always looking for retellings of this fairy tale. But I'm always very cautious because not everything that is marketed as a retelling is really a retelling or they are but they are really bad books. And so, I was reticent in starting this trilogy, especially because is a hyped one. It seems that, in social media, everyone and their mother loves this trilogy. 

Nonetheless, I decided to read it. And I ended up loving it! The bones of the original fairy tale are there, but it also can stand up as its own story. The characters are interesting and well-written (and there is disability representation, which is a positive point). The story is well-structured and the pacing is just right. I loved it! Its probably one of my favorite books of 2023. 

Overall, it's a solid story that I recommend if you're looking for retellings that can be their own story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, War, Kidnapping, Torture, Murder, Chronic illness, Confinement, Violence, Blood, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Ableism, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual harassment, and Misogyny

Minor: Alcohol

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed it well enough. Harper is a typical YA protagonist in actions and thoughts. Some of the other characters should have been developed more. I also think the book could have been shorter. Not sure if I'll continue the trilogy or not. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Cancer, War, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicide attempt

midknytowl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book - unique take on a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and I love that there was disability rep. 

Main complaint was the epilogue and it's character assassination. Made me go from planning to immediately pick up the sequel as my next read to wondering if I want to.

Honestly how could you do Grey dirty like that? Probably my favorite character in the book, I actually would have been rooting for him and Harper if it wouldn't have fucked up the entire premise. The most loyal, self sacrificing character ever and he disappears, lets everyone thinks he's dead, traps Jake and Noah in their world, and is mean to his mother just because he found out about his true parentage? It just doesn't vibe with who he had been up to that point. I don't want to see him become a villain, and that's what I'm worried about in the sequel.

😔 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and War