Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Betty by Tiffany McDaniel

97 reviews

cbeghuin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death

Minor: Homophobia

thewoodlandbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

a_dot_phil's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Absolutely not. How is this book rated so high? Trauma after trauma with every single trigger warning imaginable.  I started skimming after

the cat and kitten chapter bc what the actual fvck. The animal abuse added absolutely nothing to the plot.

I have no idea what the message or purpose of this books was, and I regret finishing it.  Two stars because of Landon and some of the Cherokee messaging. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Animal cruelty, Child death, Racism, Misogyny, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Rape, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Hate crime, and Suicide

apotofhoney's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Animal death, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Grief, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

sab3467's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

2.5

Trigger warnings for this book include pretty much everything (sexual abuse, pedophilia, animal abuse, racism, incest)

I have a hard time with reviewing this book, as I thought it was so beautifully written and couldn't really put it down. I was captivated by the environment, the family bond between Betty and her father and between most of the siblings. Some themes were interesting to mix in this story, but some seemed a bit far fetched... and way too violent and graphic. Unfortunately, there is no trigger warning and after a while, I almost felt sick reading it. I felt the repercussion of this book for days after, feeling like I had been through these traumatic experiences myself, which I could've lived without.

Also, to me it felt like the characters were missing some ambiguity. The "bad" ones were demonized, while Betty felt always morally correct, perfectly stable and reacted to everything around her with grace, poise and innocence. It felt a bit too black and white, which took me out of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Incest, Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Mental illness, Torture, Self harm, and Pregnancy

lizziaha's review against another edition

sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Wow this one hurt. I relate a lot to Betty and her dad is the most lovely character. The writing was beautiful and I feel like McDaniels was able to take those heavy heavy topics and weave a tragically honest story around them. What I didn’t realize when I started the book was that this was a story about women and how the world beats down on us for all our lives. And how we all fight back in our own ways. The way that McDaniels dipped into that well of sadness again and again made this book an emotional read for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Suicide, Incest, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Self harm, Child death, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Rape, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Miscarriage, Murder, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Hate crime, Violence, Sexism, Blood, and Bullying

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

kaidenxo's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Incest

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

jazminrice's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Incest, Self harm, Child death, Abortion, Pedophilia, Death, Rape, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Suicide, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Grief, Death of parent, and Bullying

floppyleaves's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Rape, Incest, Murder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexism, Self harm, Grief, Animal cruelty, Racism, Violence, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Child death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Death of parent, Colonisation, Bullying, Animal death, and Abortion

Moderate: Gun violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, and Body shaming

badwolfreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

Betty
Tiffany McDaniels

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You know those really terrible 20-car pileups? That's what this book reminded me of. And not in a bad way (although there really isn't anything good about a car accident). It was like watching cars slowly crash into each other. It's terrible, but you don't want to stop looking. Traumatic event after traumatic event crashing into each other.

This book is about the Carpenter family, mostly about Betty. Alka & Landon, the parents, didn't meet in a particularly special way, but what was special was that Landon beat the shit out of Alka's dad after he found out he beat her. They ran off and had 8 kids, 2 of whom didn't last long. Landon is Native American with dark-skin, and so is Betty. This being in the time they were in and in Ohio, racial discrimination was pretty brutal, even among themselves. Alka, who was white, would tell Betty terrible things about how she looked. And so did her sister, Flossie. Then there was rape - 2 of the female characters were r*ped and Betty herself was almost raped, and these incidents weren't by strangers. Alka Carpenter isn't the greatest mom, but when you consider what happened to her, it makes more sense. There just so much that happens. The book takes place over the span of many years, which makes it seem really slow. There isn't a lot of happiness that comes through in this book, at least not for me. But it kept me reading and wanting to know what happens to certain characters. I would recommend with caution...this one is kind of heavy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Murder, Bullying, Abortion, Sexual assault, Child death, Suicide attempt, Rape, Animal death, Sexism, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Incest, Mental illness, Racism, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury