Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

19 reviews

nikoops's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

Really great read for fans of a good old ghost story. Definitely leaves you wanting to know more about the fates of these characters, and there were definitely parts that had me wishing the author would have delved a bit deeper. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Drug use, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Bullying

While this story does not contain incest between blood related siblings, the main character Andrew and Eddie are referred to as siblings by adoption at times, so the intense relationship they had may be read by some as having incest-ish vibes

holyschmitz's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

Woah. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gore, Drug use, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Classism, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Drug abuse, Cursing, Body horror, and Alcohol

hades_hotline's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

3.75

This book was addicting and lowkey traumatizing but a great read. The premise was very entertaining, and I love a good morally gray character. (do look into cw and tw before reading).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Racism and Homophobia

Minor: Vomit and Gore

queerfucker's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I luv gays being toxic bitches and learning to be better humans in the midst of their grief… with ghosts!

It can feel very slow and like days have actually been weeks, but grief and it’s distortion of time can do that. The descriptions are so vivid, but it can just feel like another paragraph to read at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol, Racism, and Drug use

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

laguerrelewis's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

This book is oozing in atmosphere. Lee Mandelo has a way of describing things that cuts right to the heart of the image, transporting you into the story. This skill is employed to great effect in this creepy, tragic southern gothic. A story about haunting, inheritance, personhood, and love in all its fucked up forms, this is a great tale to raise the hair on your neck an leave you with a lot to consider.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Cursing, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Blood, Violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Sexual content, Classism, Gore, Death, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

remimicha's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Murder, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Grief, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Violence, Drug use, Death, Torture, Suicide, Blood, and Homophobia

Moderate: Classism, Racism, Car accident, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Medical content, and Eating disorder

gcreed13's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Islamophobia, Drug use, Violence, Murder, Death, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia

fanboyriot's review

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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

5.0

Read For:
Ghosts
Chaotic Gays
Spooky Fantasy
Dark Academia
Fast Cars and Stupid Decisions

I read a review that said this was like a gay fever dream and that sums up a lot of it.  The supernatural elements and the overall eerie atmosphere were really lovely.  It was well written, however, the romance was kind of meh at first, by the end of the book it was better but it just felt like there could have been more development with Andrew and Sam.  Overall, the ending was nice and I would definitely re-read this again.
 

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5/5)

Release Date: 28, September 2021

POV: Third Person

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Rep: Achillean MC, Trans Character, Queer Characters, Polyamorous MMF, BIPOC SC, MC with Anxiety

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Cursing, Blood, Murder, Suicide, Death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Drug use, Grief, Violence, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Transphobia, Sexism, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Biphobia, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny

captainroz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Violence, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Animal death