Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Monstrous by Jessica Lewis

5 reviews

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, Racism, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Homophobia

karcitis's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Body shaming, Vomit, Slavery, Torture, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Blood, and Child death

jazzyjbox's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I am NOT a fan of snakes by any means, yet this book managed to make me sympathize with a giant one. 

Avie is staying with her aunt and cousin in the small town of Sanctum before she can escape on her track scholarship to college. But things in Sanctum are weird. When Avie ends up a sacrifice for a giant snake, she'll do anything to survive. Including making a deal with a monster. She won't die for anyone. Not the town, not her aunt, not even for the cute girl Avie likes. 

Jessica Lewis takes morally gray to a whole new level! Avie is an incredibly strong protagonist who finds herself torn between revenge and saving the ones she cares about. She's written as having PTSD, but I think what she experiences falls more under Accute Stress Disorder that could have developed into PTSD. 

This is my first time reading this author but definitely won't be the last! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death

Minor: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

bookeduntil's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

booktribe's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.0

When Latavia is forced to spend the Summer with her aunt in a creepy small town, she discovers that this town has secrets, and that something is living in the woods. Will Latavia make it out of this town alive?

This author’s previous novel, Bad Witch Burning is one of my favorite books of all time! And I have been waiting on Monstrous for so long! I loved the characters! Our main character Latavia was incredibly relatable and she really deserved better! And I also LOVED the monster that was living in the woods. He was such a sweetie pie when he wasn’t eating people! I also loved the puppies! One thing about Jessica Lewis, she’s gonna add lovable animals to her books and I love her for it! I also appreciated that this had mental health representation! 

I did expect this to be darker and more intense though. From the description I was expecting horror and it definitely feels more fantasy with some murderous elements. Also, the story picked up really quick in the beginning but it got slow after that. I think either more should’ve happened in the amount of pages it had OR it should’ve been a shorter book. And based on the way this book ended, I feel like this might become a series and I was expecting a standalone. It didn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger, but a large part of the conflict wasn’t handled at the end and it was alluded to that that conflict would be handled later. I would definitely be interested in reading the next book if this becomes a series, but I still feel unsatisfied with the ending, especially if it really is a standalone.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot! There were some things I would’ve changed, but it was definitely enjoyable and I can’t wait to read even more of Jessica Lewis’ work!

Thank you Random House Children’s and NetGalley for this arc! All opinions are my own.

TW: parental abandonment, domestic abuse, child abuse, homophobia, fatphobia, suicidal thoughts 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse