Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - When Life Gives You Vampires

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

When Life Gives You Vampires by Gloria Duke

5 reviews

bibble_kingly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

3.75

This book was a challenging read. The vampire aspects were interesting but I wish there had been more explanations about other things.

I think the Mother's opinion doing a 180 at the end of the book felt incredibly unrealistic. Yes, she experienced a terrifying event. Also, when you spend your child's enitre life fat-shaming her and forcing your daughter to develop disordered eating, it takes a while to not only acknowledge your wrong doing but to also, unlearn all of that AND do better.

This book had a lot of moments of realism which kept it grounded in some aspects. I understand that when a person gets to be 100+ years old, there's probably a disconnect when it comes to the human understanding of the supernatural world but...

'Vampire Hunters are incredibly dangerous so you have to watch out for them BUT ALSO are rare so why would you worry about it?' is very weird especially when Tristan laughes about werewolves existing. Werewolves, the creatures that are the folklore adversaries of vampires?? How was Lily's question not an IMMEDIATE clue that maybe our new couple has a totally different problem from just the Vampire council????

Overall, this book gave me a lot to think about in terms of body acceptance, the facets of internal shame and how all of that impacts everyone around you. The supernatural aspects were interesting but also, kind of baffling. The romance plot was also a bit baffling at times but not terrible.

Content Warnings

vixenreader's review

Go to review page

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

3.0

I love the representation, the premise, and every character the main character. It’s just that the central character’s personality and self-consciousness can be a bit hard to swallow at times.

Content Warnings

risquish's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

Definitely reads like a first novel; I really enjoyed the first half, but a lot of the relationship and communication issues didn’t get solved by the supposed resolution of the book. Also, despite “learning to love her body” reading this book was a test of my patience as our protagonist hates herself for 75% of the book. And the supposed resolution with her fatphobic mother was… a) unrealistic b) disappointing and c) practically a footnote for something that felt like such a large part in her personal journey. Also, Tristan (our ML) needed far more depth in understanding of Lily in both her motivations and her body related traumas; it doesn’t feel like he really learns much by the end of the book.

WHY IS EVAN’S BFF MARRIED TO A CONSERVATIVE???? WHY IS LILY’S DAD A BIG CONSERVATIVE MEDIA OUTLET CEO???? These things are not met with nearly enough skepticism nor are they interrogated with any moral questioning….especially considering that our cast is all white and the only real diversity we see is our fat mc who hates her body most of the book.

Content Warnings

cady_sass's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted 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

2.0

I really wanted to like this, but it’s just not very good. I think the intent was body positivity but it did not achieve that in the end. Missed the mark for me

Content Warnings

mar_gier's review

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.0

I didn't hate this book, but it wasn't perfect the best either. I loved Lily and thought that she was hilarious,

though I wish she didn't take until the like third to last chapter to fully except herself and tie up literally every other plot thread at the same time

. Her use of... I want to call it internet speak, was also quite annoying, even though I enjoyed her sass. I have grievances about aspects of her personality, but that's what character development is for, and I liked the Lily at the end. I quite enjoyed Tristan as well, and wish the book had more of him, as I had some trouble believing that he and Lily had anything beyond physical and sexual attraction.

Content Warnings

More...