Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

90 reviews

inconsistentfruitcake's review

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

Very very heavy… A fascinating read, and required quite a lot of mulling over for me. I think it’s good to go into this book without knowing anything of the plot but absolutely necessary to check content warnings. seriously.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Body shaming, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

anntharai's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

year23's review

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

I'm confused by the praise I saw for this book. I think that created expectations impacting my experience. There is little plot - and I think I'd be okay with that if the character development was stronger but it was so difficult to place the main character, their wants, needs, flaws, etc. - it was all over the place (and the lack of plot and random events didn't help much in that regard). The writing - strong at times, albeit quite repetative (eg, the MC blushes every other page). Clearly an imaginative and creative writer - there were vibes galore. Bleak, gross, horny, but that is not enough for this many pages. I wanted more gothic horror - suspense, trepidation, fear, but the lack of plot and character development made it hard to feel much of anything apart from confusion or disinterest. The narrative's worldbuilding is so bleak, anything bad happening to someone is like just another day ending in y. Stakes aren't a thing with that level of bleakness, especially if the MC is ambivalent about most of it. 

There's also an amorality here that I couldn't quite grasp. It's a fairy tale - so even if it's a bleak takeaway, there's still that "ah ha" moment that didn't happen here for me. Maybe that's going too far though in my critique - and more of a reflection of what I want from a book (which has nothing to do with what the author wants to write and share!). This one walks a very fine line that I think could have been really powerful in exploring trauma and its impact given the MC's toxic (massive understatement) family and environment and instead, due to lack of plot and characterization, falls flat/rings hollow. 

A note - by amorality, I am NOT referring to the growing sexuality of the MC and how that shows up in the text. This was rather tame compared to other romance books I've read, even some YA books. Yes - words like nipples and boobs are said way more than even in your typical romance (more a writing thing than a too-scintillating thing) but to me, it felt like a key part of the MC's character's connection to their sexuality and a site of pain & awakening so that tracked. Did it read like YA? Yes - and that would be more my issue with it - it didn't feel like an adult fantasy at all apart from the horror elements, but even how those were written felt YA. Again - that's not a bad thing - but I'm not sure that's what the author was attempting. 

I would recommend this to very specific people who I know are into these vibes, as the vibes are strong but there is no plot here, the most one dimensional of characters across the board, and I think failed in telling a story about living in a traumatic family situation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Self harm, Body horror, Body shaming, Murder, and Incest

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

bohboh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Reid handles the delicate topics of abuse and anorexia with careful respect and grace when telling this chilling gothic horror. She capitalizes well on romance and fantasy themes to draw interesting and distinct characters. I could not put this down once I started.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Vomit, Misogyny, Colonisation, Cursing, Xenophobia, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Rape and Pedophilia

morgangd's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

An intense tale of trauma in dark fairy tale mode, with every trigger warning under the sun and maybe, just maybe, actually too crass. But it did move me at parts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, Body shaming, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Rape, Gaslighting, Sexism, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcoholism

carolined314's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Dark fairy tale retelling with tons of trauma

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Confinement, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Child abuse, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Sexual content, Body shaming, Blood, Animal death, Murder, and Pedophilia

Minor: Death of parent