Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

90 reviews

kennedyno's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I wasn’t expecting to like this book so much considering I DNF’d the authors first novel, but I really connected to this one. This book does not hold any punches, it takes awhile to get to anything particularly horrifying, but the build up is necessary to feel the impact of the terrible things that happen next. Every detail of this story pulled me in and the way the narrator changes as her perspective does is wonderful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death and Alcoholism

paigemushaw's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Alcoholism

tifftastic87's review

I read the main content warnings and thought I could handle this one. However, I never saw mention of all of intrusive thoughts regarding Marlinchen's body image as well as her eating disorder. Some of her thoughts are really too similar to mine about myself such as

thoughts of cutting off parts of her body that she hates

 
If you plan on reading it, look at the whole list of content warnings not just the top three. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Body horror, Body shaming, Grief, Fatphobia, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Graphic depictions of binging and purging, graphic descriptions of intrusive thoughts of extreme self harm

dixiecarroll's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a highly disturbing classic fairytale retelling and you should not read it if you are easily triggered or grossed out. I loved it - it made me incredibly uncomfortable, but I like it when fairytales are a little awful. It lost a star because I felt like it was missing something - I can’t quite tell what that was yet, but it could be the intentional feeling of blackouts that our narrator felt as well - unsure. Anyway this is great!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

cameronreads's review against another edition

4.0

This book was so oddly compelling. The both the writing style and atmosphere were haunting and wonderfully gothic. I outwardly cringed in disgust multiple times. Even the main character, although you’re rooting for her, feels spooky somehow. Her point of view felt almost twisted, as she’s biased by living with her father. I thought it explored its themes so well, especially those of trauma, desire, and story. I felt a little detached from the characters, but I think this is personal preference whether you’d be bothered by this or not (in some ways it adds to the haunting atmosphere). This did extend to the romance as well; there were times when I wasn’t even sure whether we were supposed to be rooting for the couple, but I do like where they ended up. There was also a fair bit of repetition - especially the ‘I’m the third sister and my sisters are beautiful and clever and I’m plain and stupid’, but whilst this was annoying to read it also emphasised just how much Marlinchen’s been brain washed to think this way. Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was the creepy, atmospheric almost horror-esque fantasy I was looking for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Grief, and Antisemitism

Minor: Pedophilia

nicolescottwv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Rape, Cannibalism, Gore, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Minor: Death of parent

snleck'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Eating disorder, Animal death, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Child abuse

ferrot_lectorapromedio's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, Racism, Physical abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Body horror, and Pedophilia

Minor: Alcoholism

thechaoshour's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

 I’m not really sure what to think of this book. I loved that it was a dark fairy tale but the plot was messy and confusing so I never really knew where things were going. Nothing really made as much sense as it should have. I might have been able to ignore that but this book was weirdly sexual for a fairy tale. I don’t think I’ve ever read about a women’s breasts this much from a female author. It was a little weird and very off putting. I could have used some trigger warnings at the begging to prepare myself for all of it, including pedophilia. It was beautifully written but that didn’t hide the serious flaws. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Racism, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Death, Child abuse, Alcohol, Confinement, Murder, Body shaming, Alcoholism, and Sexual content

ale24's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gore, Violence, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Death of parent, Incest, Sexism, Cannibalism, Classism, and Rape