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emilycarvelli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Ableism, Excrement, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Torture, Sexual harassment, Violence, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence
allena_inwonderland's review
- 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? Yes
3.5
Short and quick chapters
The beginning
Prologue was actually one of my favorite parts and I wanted more!
What I didn’t like:
Unnecessary gang rape
Malik not knowing how to defend himself & forgetting
That epilogue?!
I didn’t like how some story lines weren’t flowing like it felt like fluff
So-so:
Religious aspects
- I have my own problems w religion but it was interesting for me to read something so interwoven with biblical aspects from someone (LaRocca) not being of faith and I get it is for his mom
Is that why we got that epilogue 👀
- The synchronicity‘s with biblical stories
Specifically I felt this brought attention to the anti christ & how in the Bible it talks about them deceiving people to gather a following and that’s exactly what I was seeing portrayed.
Also Ghost and Mr. Crowley differences and relationship.
Book shows a good portrayal of grief.
Lots of thoughts but don’t want to spoil the story!
Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Car accident, Blood, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Death
Moderate: Suicide
rhiannonafternoon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Grief, Death, Homophobia, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Rape, Physical abuse, Excrement, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use
dean_reviews's review
- 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? Yes
4.0
It was an amazing book, but also such a hard and emotional read.
I don't think that I was fully prepared for what I was getting myself into when I started this book. I am still glad that I did read it though.
***Content warnings for this book:
This story is told to us in a narrative form that follows multiple people who are effected by the events happening in the small Connecticut town of Henley's Edge. Our cast of characters is varied and diverse. A group of people who would be impacted by the internal workings of a small town in profound ways that intersect but are also unique and troubling.
I feel like a lot of this story is me going "yup... that tracks" when something happens that does feel into my pre-conceived notions of how a small town would engage with and deal with the particular issues at hand.
I know this is unfair in a lot of ways and it did make me stop and wonder if LaRocca was writing from personal experience, general stereotypical knowledge, or held beliefs?
I did find myself needing breaks from the contents of the books. Don't get me wrong, I am no stranger to a dark and traumatizing book, but something about this one just hit so differently... I am wondering if it was feeding off of my own concerns over treatment I might receive as a trans person in those places.
Harnessing real fears and concerns of those within the communities of the characters to make the struggles and pain feel more real.
I also wonder.... if maybe this would have been less needed had I been reading with my eyes and not my ears.
On that note.. the audio was really good. I loved the flow and tone that Andre Santana brought to the story. The depth that was given to the hard moments and the emotion that was brought into the characters.
Overall, I am happy that I read this book and I am curious to pick up more of their books in the future. I would recommend this book so long as I also gave them the laundry list of trigger warnings.
Literally my only major critique is that there is not a connected list of trigger warnings provided by the author/publisher on the listings.
***I was provided a copy of this book via NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion and thoughts about what I read.***
Graphic: Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, and Torture
Moderate: Excrement, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Biphobia, Child death, and Vomit
micalyia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
It wasn’t scary but it was horrifying in the fact that it was just horrible how the characters keep getting knocked down by different situations
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Pedophilia, Hate crime, Grief, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Body horror, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Rape, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Gore, Physical abuse, and Torture
kristen_mk's review against another edition
4.0
If you want to be left wondering "What the f*ck did I just read?!?", I highly recommend. Be sure to check the trigger warnings for this book, there are a lot of brutal scenes.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book!
Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, Torture, and Rape
Moderate: Death and Kidnapping
rosage's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Religious bigotry, Violence, Homophobia, Blood, Body horror, Excrement, Gore, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content