Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson

7 reviews

theatrealpaca's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? Yes

5.0


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mfrisk'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? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was stunning and everything you could want from queer horror.

You’re taken from romance, over the top sweetness, and saccharine words (many of which I had to look up) to sheer dread and fear. I so look forward to reading more from this author and seeing how they peel back the layers in another story.

This book to me
had parallels to Misery, Midsommar, Hannibal and was an excellent addition to the cottagegore genre. For those who’ve read This is where we talk things out this is also a great queer horror read-alike which touches on similar themes. Also a good reminder to have people in your life who’d sound the alarm if you uproot your life. Ro you grew on me throughout this story and I’m rooting for you.

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kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Honestly, this was pretty fun! Predictable in the way that a good weekend horror movie is. “Don’t open that door!” “You didn’t tell her your middle name! How did she know?”; the usual frustrations with an extremely oblivious MC that is about to become a final girl. that part of the book was 10/10

the part that rankled was the “hidden in plain sight” theme. it was incredibly heavy-handed to the point of being unrealistic. Ro “didn’t notice” enough red flags to decorate a six flags entrance “because Ash was a woman”. While there is something to be said for predator women not being viewed as such because of gender, Ro’s obliviousness was beyond the pale. The woman in question bludgeoned a raccoon TO DEATH in front of Ro, belittled Ro at every turn, and kept 1000 secrets. they fucked and she wouldn’t even tell Ro her last name?????? she kept her nail clippings?????

Ro spends whole paragraphs talking about how her last relationship made her “paranoid” and “insecure”but immediately agrees to meet a strange farmer at her house alone…? even with Ro having what sounds like a terrible childhood, and recently out of a bad relationship, there’s no way a woman living alone in the 21st century would be this nonchalant about her own safety. idk if the author was really trying to help the dense readers Get It or what but it was distractingly unrealistic. Ro questioning Ash’s motives or even taking more precautions before dating this mysterious woman would’ve made this feel much more real. Ro didn’t even ask around the farmers market about her, despite those people seeing her EVERY WEEK

And don’t get me started on Ro assuming that a sapphic relationship would be so much easier and superior to being with a man because ~girls get each other~. Obviously the author meant for this to come across as deeply reductive to the point of being sheltered, but the author also made Ro repeat the sentiment so many times that it felt robotic. we GET it, you think this weird bitch relationship will magically work out, despite all the evidence to the contrary, because of ~girl code~ or something. it was such a straight high school girl take that it felt foreign coming out of a 27 year olds mouth multiple times. 

Idk like there’s oblivious final girl and then there’s this… characterizations left much to be desired. the cat in this had more sense than any character

Tldr: fun queer horror read if you can suspend your disbelief! thank you Annie 💜

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mobymaize's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Overall Bloom is an incredible piece of queer horror that does not have the characters’ sexualities be a major part of the plot. While at times the writing falls into fanfiction territory, I still throughly enjoyed this story and its truly delectable & delightful hints to what’s happening. As I slowly realized what happened, I genuinely felt sick to my stomach /pos. 

Quite campy, but quite compelling!

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jkpiowa's review against another edition

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

4.0


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rhiannonafternoon's review against another edition

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

4.5

What enchants you at the beginning of this story is what makes it the scariest at the end. New love, feelings you can’t quite explain, and red flags floating right on by, Ro is in far far over her head. She just doesn’t realize in what capacity. 

I got a little hung up on some of the vocabulary, but it’s fitting for Ro’s character. It was just hard to parse if there weren’t context clues. 

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erynlasbelin's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
 Beautifully written, weirdly relatable, and immensely disturbing.

Content warning: violence against animals. 

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