Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

85 reviews

ainhoalikesbooksandmangos's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I like the vibes, but I think, that the ending was a bit rush. Like "do you remember this thing that talked about randomly 2 times? It's an important thing for the last 50 pages" but overall I like it and I enjoyed *spoilers ahead* that Marlinchen didn't forgiv Rose, and all (almost all) the abuser in the book died.*end of the spoilers* so yeah the ending is fine but the rest of the book was very enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Death, Bullying, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Minor: Abortion, Bullying, Classism, Blood, Body shaming, Colonisation, and Gaslighting

roanjackal's review

dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

This book is phenomenal, and does an amazing job of talking about abuse in the harsh ugly way it deserves. This book was emotional and enchanting. I cant wait to read more of Ava's work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Racism, Misogyny, Bullying, Body shaming, and Death of parent

khushir_11's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

If I see the word breasts one more time I’m going to lose it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Sexual content, Body horror, Murder, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Addiction, Classism, Vomit, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse

unluckycat13's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexual content, Body horror, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

edamamebean's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

I was completely spellbound by this book from start to finish. When I wasn’t reading it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It’s definitely not a perfect novel. Ava Reid’s prose teeters towards heavy-handedness (something inevitably gets compared to snakes like every five paragraphs) but somehow it still really did it for me. I figured out the mystery element almost immediately, but I kind of think you’re supposed to know or acknowledge what Marlinchen can’t. She, as a main character, is frustratingly naive but you still root for her. Her mentality around sex and virginity is rooted in purity culture in a way that I didn’t like at first, but as I thought about it more I came to accept that it stemmed from the toxic environment she was raised in and wasn’t an opinion of the author herself. At the end of the day, Marlinchen’s sexual awakening is what frees her, so I’ll forgive it. This book gets a 10/10 for vibes and I really recommend it if you’re looking for a dark fairytale but for the love of god, read the content warnings first. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical trauma, Animal death, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Blood, Eating disorder, Gore, Xenophobia, Vomit, Murder, Antisemitism, Body horror, Violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Medical content, Body shaming, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

thimi_time's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow, this is an extremely emotional and also rather graphic book. Ava Reid really has no qualms about the length she goes to textually illustrate the scenes and plot - this is definitely not a bad thing, I found her imagery quite striking and it really is beautiful to read, but it can/will probably be off-putting to some readers. And some scenes…I was shocked and horrified, but I do think it’s important to show another way that people can be affected by

abuse

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Gaslighting

bestiality

.

hihicass's review against another edition

dark emotional

• 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Violence

lizlikes_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

Idk what this was but I loved it good for her

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body shaming, Murder, Vomit, Eating disorder, Gore, Violence, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Sexual assault

laurenelisewrites's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Murder, Animal death, Sexism, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Death, and Cursing

punziereads3's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Eating disorder, and Cannibalism