Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

30 reviews

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Xenophobia, Addiction, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, Animal death, Violence, Alcohol, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Gore, Classism, Medical content, Sexual assault, Blood, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Torture, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Self harm, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Bullying, and Hate crime

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Incest, Racial slurs, Infertility, and Infidelity

Beastiality.

ava_jpg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

mmmm cannibalism as a metaphor for love always eats (literally)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Vomit, Animal death, Medical content, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Death, and Murder

pinkpapercrane's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is very dark, very tense, and yet at the end of the day, a fantastic read. This isn’t my usual cup of tea, I’m a cozy fantasy sort of reader but I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to dive headfirst into grim dark fantasy.

(with a happy ending, of course.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Torture, Self harm, Eating disorder, Child death, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Animal death, Pregnancy, Gore, Confinement, Cannibalism, Body shaming, and Adult/minor relationship

This book is very dark and very tense, there are some in depth descriptions of sexual violence, with references to it throughout the book.

uninvestedreader's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Cannibalism, Self harm, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Murder, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol

elsa__reads's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This came out of nowhere for me. Ava Reid never disappoints. Her world building is so rich and unique. This book is really dark, genuinely some of the darkest of its kind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Death, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Self harm, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Torture, Mental illness, Animal death, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

forgetmenaught's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Painful, surprising, horrifying. I love Ava Reid’s writing. She turns over rocks to show us the squirming creatures beneath. And somehow it all turns out poignantly beautiful. Gag-inducing yet hopeful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Vomit, Death, Murder, Gore, Violence, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Body horror, and Misogyny

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual violence

bea_reads_books's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I really loved this book. I will say though, it’s very dark and heavy. I’ve included as many comprehensive warnings as I can, but I’ll say it here too:

Sexual violence, coercive control, and mental illness are really big themes in this book. The main character and her love interest both experienced sexual assault from adults as minors, and the main character describes in detail exactly what her doctor did to her around 50% of the way through the book. There is no penetrative rape, but it is still hard to read. If sexual violence/harassment is a trigger for you, I would advise you to be extremely cautious about this book, and to take care of yourself if you do decide to read it.

Additionally, the main character is mentally ill. She has violent intrusive thoughts about self harm. She has an eating disorder and forces herself to vomit up everything she eats. She also experiences intense anxiety. As someone who also has anxiety and intrusive thoughts, this was hard for me to read, but also nice in a way. It’s good to know I’m not the only person in the world this happens to. 

Aside from the hard parts, this was a well written book in my opinion. The pacing was good, the romance was okay, and the prose and worldbuilding were very compelling. I also liked how the author showed the many ways in which abuse can manifest in someone. The main character, Marlinchen, is one of three sisters. One of them became cruel, taking out her hurt and anger on her sisters because she couldn’t take it out on her father. The other became cunning and level-headed, always making herself seem like the sensible one while working behind her sisters’ backs to gain her father’s favor. And Marlinchen is constantly fielding insults about how she is nothing but a doormat, doing everything her father says without complaint to avoid angering him. 

I think this story is a wonderful commentary on the ways in which an abuser can fully and completely f*ck up the lives of everyone around them, and how hard it is for their victims to heal afterward, all wrapped up in the guise of a fairytale retelling.

I also really liked that two of the three abusers died (painfully) and the third went to prison.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Death, Animal death, Blood, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Fatphobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

becap's review

dark emotional inspiring sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Cannibalism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, and Sexual violence

coffeepotoo's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

i've never fucking felt so goddamn seen by a characters (very mentally ill) thought process before. also wonderful usage of theming and prose and i read it all in one sitting and it was very excellent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Incest, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Xenophobia, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexism, Death, Body shaming, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Antisemitism, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, and Torture

theladydoor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Body horror

Moderate: Xenophobia and Incest