Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

39 reviews

jojothefool's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I had a lot of fun with this audiobook. The supernatural stuff was a bit confusing via audio for me, I think I may have followed some scenes a lot better if I were reading instead of listening, but I got enough of it to get the haunting feelings of the scary scenes. I will say that this book has representation of a queer community I am so not familiar with which was interesting lol there’s a lot of drag racing and not the kind that I’m used to. Car stuff is just not for me, I don’t understand it and I don’t want to, so those parts were kinda hard to get through. I liked the overall mystery and ookiness of the novel. There’s a small yet remarkable romance that I found myself shipping far before I thought the book would do anything with it, so when it happened I was very pleased. Overall a fun time, especially for the toxic codependency queer ship enjoyers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Suicide, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, and Drug use

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Vomit, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Murder, and Homophobia

Minor: Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Car accident

kyra_joy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Though I loved this book, I did find the beginning a little slow and the end came very quickly. But the characters were great a the mystery held up till close to the end.  But overall I really enjoyed this read especially once I got a bit into it and I didn’t want to put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, and Self harm

kaywhiteley's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This book really took the southern gothic vibe and ran with it. It gave me the same sort of thrill and chills as the classic southern gothic stories I read in AP English class. But, Mandelo also acknowledges the nastiness of southern history and has it contribute to the horror of the whole story which I think puts a delightful spin on the southern gothic theme. Plus, I love when racists and elitists get what they deserve and are seen as the ugly monsters they are. 

Truly I was unsure about this book for a long time. The first 300 pages felt like the slowest burn mystery with also the slowest burn queer romance you have ever seen. Truly the sexual tension combined with the denials of being queer was so infuriating. I also truly did not understand what was going on for a long time. That plus the street racing made me wonder if this book was for me.

That being said, I’m glad I held on. As slow as the first part of the book was, the second part was quick paced and kept me on the edge of my seat. I think that the slow burn actually enhanced the pace at the end and made it all the more satisfying.

I liked how messy Andrew’s investigation was because, let’s all be honest with ourselves, we would not be that much better when trying to break a curse while being haunted by the ghoul of our best friend. I also just loved the messiness of Andrew’s (and really everyone’s) character in general. He was so so fucked up throughout the book but I couldn’t help but root for him and his happiness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, and Drug use

Moderate: Homophobia, Self harm, and Racism

Minor: Vomit and Domestic abuse

dodgeremerson's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Body horror, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Death, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Alcohol, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Confinement, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Cursing, Medical content, Physical abuse, Classism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Religious bigotry, Car accident, Transphobia, and Death of parent

frantic_vampire's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I am…unwell over this book. This was just fucking fantastic and I’m honestly at a loss for words for this review. Summer Sons is one of the absolute best books that I think I’ve ever read and I just want to scream about it. It’s this mix of dark academia, paranormal hauntings, and queer longing that had me hooked from the very beginning. Everything about this book was feral and unhinged and tinged with the sticky restlessness of a southern summer. And I could read about Andrew and Sam and Riley endlessly. This book is one that will haunt my dreams for a long time to come and I can’t recommend it enough. This is the easiest five stars I think I’ve ever given a book. I’m just gonna excuse myself now and go scream about it into the void…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Drug use, Gaslighting, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Classism, Eating disorder, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Racism

bugcollector's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Adrew was a bit frustratin the start, he came to investigate his best friend's death, yet isn't willing to ask simple questions. 
There are no girlies and no girlies logic as well 😔 
The characters grew on me though, and I enjoyed the angst and the haunt, wish the ending was more satisfying 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Blood, Self harm, Gore, and Murder

caspian_the_pauper's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, Death, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Murder, Stalking, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness

czoltak's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.0

I should’ve DNF’ed this on page 15 like I wanted to (I definitely wouldn’t have bothered finishing this if it weren’t for a readathon)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Homophobia, and Murder

basementofbooks's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Self harm, Violence, Homophobia, Murder, Blood, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident, Colonisation, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

fuchs_galaxis's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Oh my God this book is so good. I devoured the audiobook in about a day.
Different ways to describe it: 

• Dukes of Hazzard but gay and haunted
• Someone read The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater and went "this could be gayer and scarier"

It's spooky and visceral and filled with unrequited longing, gay panic (the queer kind not the murder kind), and fast cars. So fucking good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Drug use

Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse and Vomit