Reviews with content warning for Child death - My Soul to Keep

I often think about what I would do for love. What lengths I would go to keep someone I love near? Would it be considered obsessive? Abusive? Lonely? Beautiful? These are the questions I asked when I was trying to understand the mind of David. That is until he created such a shitty situation for everyone involved.

My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due follows Jessica and David and what seems to be their happy life. David is everything you'd want in a man--brilliant, attentive, kind, and youthful. However, Jessica has always felt that there was something about David that was just out of reach. As people close to Jessica meet violent ends, she is met with an unimaginable truth: more than 400 years ago, David traded his humanity for immortality. This is a secret that he has had to protect at all costs. However, his brethren have decided that David needs to return to his coven, but he is unwilling to leave his family behind. David decides that the only way to keep them together could be the very thing that tears them apart.

Jessica and David's marriage was always rather obsessive. It often felt like David loved too hard and Jessica felt like her only option was him even when things felt dicey and unsure. This dynamic shouldn't come as a shock to you when you've been made aware that

David was Jessica's professor.

This power dynamic only worsened as David began to feel as though the people in Jessica's life were closing in on their "happy" bubble. His distress made him messy and willing to do the unthinkable to save his family.

Tananarive has a unique skill when it comes to writing horror. She does it in a way that feels mundane while expertly weaving in parts of Black culture. The reader has a chance to connect with the characters and watch as they unfold in front of you. They aren't perfect but they are beautifully flawed. I think that's part of what makes her storytelling so compelling. I highly recommend this book if you want to delve more into Black horror and thriller. This one has a different taste to it that I love!

Content Warnings

missdanielle's review

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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emzhay's review against another edition

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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

5.0

Reading this book is like watching a train wreck with the most terrifyingly gorgeous cinematography.

Content Warnings

f18's review against another edition

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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

4.0

As an atheist I distinguish between fiction with Christian characters (usually fine) and Christian fiction (avoid like the plague). This is what I would call a Christian fiction

vampire

novel, and it was really good! I wish more Christian books were this thoughtful about how they integrate religion (and yes, this has almost exclusively been an issue with Christian-focused lit and not other religions).

The faith of the main character was not only forefront but integral and most importantly it tied into the plot in ways that made sense. The characters felt like real people,

well, except for the immortals-- for good reason!

I may not have made the same choice as Jessica at the end of the book, but I understood her.

By the way, I've seen this listed as a paranormal romance (I actually picked it off my tbr because my library had it under romance + horror) and it is not that at all imo. More of a thriller.

Content Warnings

queerbooklover03's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

A very interesting concept with some mostly well fleshed out characters and backstories, but the more time I spent in Dawit's head the less I liked him and thus, the sooner I wanted to finish the book. So I ended up pushing the last 10-20 percent of the novel as a quickly as possible to be done with it and done with Dawit. I found very well wrotten, but very frustrating and controlling, quite the opposite of amyone I would want to be with.
I did not like racism of "Night Song" and how they talked about her.

Content Warnings

cre8tivebeauty's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

Content Warnings

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

rae_bookmarkchronicles's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

While I do feel like I’ve been reading this for forever I was really intrigued by the story and all of the events that took place. I will definitely be continuing the series

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