Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith

4 reviews

aesthetic_bookreader's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, War, Gun violence, Mental illness, Terminal illness, and Murder

courtnoodles's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Grief, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment and Mental illness

calamitywindpetal's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Blood, Murder, Death, Misogyny, and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Confinement, Racism, Gore, Vomit, and Sexual violence

Minor: Stalking, Alcohol, and Sexual content

leahlovesloslibros's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Frances Halloway lives as a seamstress in 1911 New York City, where she spends most of her time mourning the recent death of her brother, William. When her boss attempts to attack her and her sewing shears end up in his neck, she is quickly named as the prime suspect - only she has no idea how it happened. Two women in caps quickly arrive and take her to Haxahaven Sanitarium, which Frances is surprised to learn is actually a disguised school for witches. Frances yearns to learn more about her magic than what they are teaching at Haxahaven, so when Finn - an attractive young man with magic - shows up and offers to teach her all he knows, she is eager to learn. She must decide whether the risk of secretly meeting with Finn is worth putting her new friends in danger, and what other secrets may lie deep beneath the surface.

There were so many great elements to this book: witches, boarding school, murder mystery, women's rights/feminist movement - loved them! 

What I liked: 
- Diverse characters, though please be aware of some content warnings surrounding certain characters, especially a prominent Native American side character
- LGBTQIAP+ representation
- lots of feminist ideals throughout the book
- the twists and turns throughout the book (although some were predictable)
- imperfect characters

What I didn't like: 
- some of the characters felt underdeveloped, especially some of the side characters at Haxahaven
- Frances was kind of whiny and impulsive at times, which I think was partially due to her age and struggles with grief (seeing as this is a YA book, I can't really hold it against her, as it seems that many of her reactions were age-appropriate for a girl in her situation)
- some of the plot twists were predictable

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, and Misogyny

Minor: Racism and Homophobia

Additional TW/CW: Native American boarding schools