Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

40 reviews

thehobbitbarbie's review against another edition

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

4.5


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unluckycat13's review

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Just not for me. Too much of a focus on sex and romance, and I'm not a huge fan of parental abuse plots. 

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laurenelisewrites's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

Such incredible prose. The descriptions of body horror were simple yet effective. I felt fully immersed in the world, Marlinchen’s head and the fucked nature of her family dynamics. I loved the ending. I’m a sucker for “happy endings”, if one can even call it that. Everything felt resolved in a satisfying, logical and responsible way. I want a movie adaptation of this asap!!

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xpelvicstabilityx's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

1.0

Truly wish there were more trigger warnings with this book. The folk tale form is compelling but so many of the details are gruesome and disturbing in a way that made my skin crawl and still does when I’m reminded of it.  

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poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

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

3.0

Juniper and Thorn reminded me of a beautiful sweater I have.  It's gorgeous, warm, and looks good on me. But it's also itchy and uncomfortable and I'm always aware I'm wearing it. This story was beautifully told, but it was coarse and unpleasant.  I never lost myself in it.  The hypersexualization of every scenario was distracting and distasteful.   It's clear the sex scenes were not meant to be titillating so I question why the author didn't use a more closed-door approach.  The abuse and eating disorder plot points were too rampant and unnecessarily triggering.   The story was as grim as those of old.  The language and descriptions were precise. The characters were well-developed, even if some of their actions and motivations were questionable.  I didn't enjoy it, but others might.

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puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

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

5.0

This book sits at the exact intersection of dark fairytale and gothic horror. I absolutely loved it and will definitely be reading Ava Reid’s other books! You will love this if you enjoy gothic atmospheres, monstrous women, unreliable narrators and a bit of body horror.


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anntharai's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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coffeepotoo's review

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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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nightmarebees's review against another edition

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challenging 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

4.25

NOT for the faint of heart, not a book for everyone, but wowie. this was hard to read at many points, and i still couldn’t put it down. the language is vivid and unsettling, the tastes and smells of this world are loud in your mind even when you wish they weren’t. reid writes about trauma and coping mechanisms in ways that don’t feel gratuitous or exploitative. it’s uncomfortable, certainly, but so is experiencing a major trauma. marlinchen and sevas are not made to suffer for the glorification of those traumas, but rather they choose to live on in spite of them. i’m gonna be thinking about this one for a while 

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laedyred's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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

Finished this one in record time. The romance is cute, it fits the fairy tale setting well.  I noticed a few things that brought it down to 4 stars for me. The characters are mostly flat, in keeping with the fairy tale retelling. The pacing of the book is a bit slow, there is an awful lot of daily activities that probably cut have been cut. The author uses the same set of describing/action words and it feels unintentional. The reveal at the end didn't seem truly earned. All of that being said, I did truly enjoy this one and connect to some of the situations. I had heard that others didn't like this book because of the amount of sexual content but...this is a story about a survivor of SA. And to its credit, the depiction of her mind reflects it. 

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