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mgwuh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Suicide
emmaward55's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book is perfect for anyone who loves the Charmed TV series and thought it could be scarier.
When I was on chapter four, my working theory was that the missing girls were being turned into horses by Val and her mum: But oh, it's so much darker than that. I love a good horror film, yet I found myself more creeped out in reading this book than I expected to be. Legrand's writing is evocative, tense, and atmospheric, without getting too bogged down in description. There's plenty of action and moments of good character growth throughout.
I read this book in two days, mostly in three long chunks, as I couldn't drag myself away to focus on anything else! I loved the complex relationships of our three protagonists and their characterisations have to be a highlight for me. Can't lie though, I’m sad that we didn’t get a reunion scene at the end between Marion and her mum. Considering that this is a book about female relationships, it feels weird to not include one of the protagonists interacting with the last present female parent of the trio.
That being said, the above was my only real complaint. I'd certainly read this book again and I recommend it for anyone with a strong stomach!
When I was on chapter four, my working theory was that the missing girls were being turned into horses by Val and her mum: But oh, it's so much darker than that. I love a good horror film, yet I found myself more creeped out in reading this book than I expected to be. Legrand's writing is evocative, tense, and atmospheric, without getting too bogged down in description. There's plenty of action and moments of good character growth throughout.
I read this book in two days, mostly in three long chunks, as I couldn't drag myself away to focus on anything else! I loved the complex relationships of our three protagonists and their characterisations have to be a highlight for me. Can't lie though, I’m sad that we didn’t get a reunion scene at the end between Marion and her mum. Considering that this is a book about female relationships, it feels weird to not include one of the protagonists interacting with the last present female parent of the trio.
That being said, the above was my only real complaint. I'd certainly read this book again and I recommend it for anyone with a strong stomach!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Blood, Self harm, Child death, Violence, Torture, Animal death, Gore, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Misogyny, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Miscarriage
Child death and kidnapping:cajesp's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
i throughly enjoyed this book! i’m really surprised how much i came to love val after hating her for most of the first 1/2 of the book but now she’s my favourite character. great character development, world-building, just the right amount of horror and the relationships between the girls was a delight to read. i loved every girl so much and i loved their journey throughout the book. it was a surprisingly great read, i would definitely recommend this one but please be aware of the horror elements, some of the descriptions may be graphic for others! also bonus points for being sapphic and having ace representation!! so great to see :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Gun violence, Vomit, and Physical abuse
Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal death
larabezzina's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Alcohol and Vomit
marieketron's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A pretty average read compared to weird (monster) mysteries I read last year. The inclusion and diversity elements were really strong, to the point of occasionally feeling like the reader is being mildly lectured, but I appreciated the message that just because someone regrets and repents for their actions doesn't mean you're obliged to forgive them. The monster elements felt relatively tame, and I felt like the plot could have been a lot shorter, but overall a fine read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Animal death, Death, Child death, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Vomit, Sexual violence, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Rape, Bullying, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
Minor: Cursing
j75's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Warning: Bad review (also mentioning that some characters get together at the end, not sure if that's a spoiler or not really).
Rating: 3 stars? or more? I dunno really, but 3 felt like a good place to me (for me, three stars=I liked it, so still a positive rating).
-I picked up this book mostly because the author wrote one of my fave books (Some Kind of Happiness) and because I knew there was a sapphic romance.
-This book was legitimately terrifying. Going into the book, I assumed it would be a bit spooky, judging from the excerpt and the cover, but wow was I in for a surprise. The one genre of books I don't really read at all is horror because I just don't like it, and this was horror...oops. I think the reason I actually kinda liked it was because of the romance/friendship aspect, which kept it from being purely creepy paranormal happenings and death and stuff. I'm kind of divided over this book, since while I didn't really enjoy the scary stuff that much (which was a majority of the book), I thought the characters were really interesting.
-Also, the book contains a very abusive mother, a mother with possible suicidal intent and just a lot of...gore, death and paranormal activity and a weird cult of men so...beware.
-Grayson and Zoe were great, and I liked seeing an asexual character. I also enjoyed Valarie and Marion's relationship, even though I was worried for a while because Val...yeah. Also cool that Marion has a larger body type than the other characters (although it's not really specified besides that).
-This book scared literally everything out of me and I wouldn't go through the creepy stuff again for a million dollars.
Fav character: Marion (the real one not the scary demon thing)
Rating: 3 stars? or more? I dunno really, but 3 felt like a good place to me (for me, three stars=I liked it, so still a positive rating).
-I picked up this book mostly because the author wrote one of my fave books (Some Kind of Happiness) and because I knew there was a sapphic romance.
-This book was legitimately terrifying. Going into the book, I assumed it would be a bit spooky, judging from the excerpt and the cover, but wow was I in for a surprise. The one genre of books I don't really read at all is horror because I just don't like it, and this was horror...oops. I think the reason I actually kinda liked it was because of the romance/friendship aspect, which kept it from being purely creepy paranormal happenings and death and stuff. I'm kind of divided over this book, since while I didn't really enjoy the scary stuff that much (which was a majority of the book), I thought the characters were really interesting.
-Also, the book contains a very abusive mother, a mother with possible suicidal intent and just a lot of...gore, death and paranormal activity and a weird cult of men so...beware.
-Grayson and Zoe were great, and I liked seeing an asexual character. I also enjoyed Valarie and Marion's relationship, even though I was worried for a while because Val...yeah. Also cool that Marion has a larger body type than the other characters (although it's not really specified besides that).
-This book scared literally everything out of me and I wouldn't go through the creepy stuff again for a million dollars.
Fav character: Marion (the real one not the scary demon thing)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Torture
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
otherworlds's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
this is a fun, twisty horror story with a powerful narrative of loss, solidarity, and reclamation of both self and power by those who have been robbed of both.
the characters are each memorable and ridiculously easy to love. their relationships, whether they be platonic or romantic, are all meaningful and dynamic in their own ways. this is not a romance, but the romantic elements are beautifully told. the plot is structured well - once it catches you in its grasp, it never lets you go. it has a good balance of sudden scares, slowly creeping dread, and quieter, softer moments, which i find vital to any horror story. and legrand's evocative, poetic style really brought this book from 'good' to 'amazing'.
i only have two criticisms. one - the sections fromthe rock's point of view are largely unnecessary and actually take away a little of the mystery. i really would have preferred to unfold the mystery along with the girls and had things explained at the climax, instead of being fed hints all along by an omniscient narrator. second, the misogynistic dialogue from certain characters was way too heavy-handed. it took focus off of the main characters' internal struggles and threw the scene off in a way that didn't feel natural to it.
the characters are each memorable and ridiculously easy to love. their relationships, whether they be platonic or romantic, are all meaningful and dynamic in their own ways. this is not a romance, but the romantic elements are beautifully told. the plot is structured well - once it catches you in its grasp, it never lets you go. it has a good balance of sudden scares, slowly creeping dread, and quieter, softer moments, which i find vital to any horror story. and legrand's evocative, poetic style really brought this book from 'good' to 'amazing'.
i only have two criticisms. one - the sections from
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Child abuse, Grief, Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Torture
Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape
Explicit, graphic depiction of cults, grooming, and aphobia.
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