Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

15 reviews

sabrinz's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

The story starts with a young woman living at the top of a mountin in an isolated cabin with her husband. She stumbles upon a killed fox that raises some alarm bells, her husband, however, dismisses the fox initially and is more than angry with her for dallying in checking the snares - the task he had set for her.
As we follow Mattie and discover that her husband is far, far from loving and caring and that there is more to the dead fox - a huge beast roaming the mountaintop that will draw people and endanger the isolation William, Mattie's husband has created.

The story is quite gripping and the tension is high throughout. In addition to the monster, the story of how Mattie (and William) came to be on this mountain top is shown as well, picking up on important topics of blame and guilt along the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexism, Confinement, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Death of parent, Blood, and Sexual violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Animal death

sonygaystation's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

I had so much fun with this omg it reminded me so much of Until Dawn and that video game is a blast!! Love me a good creature feature horror and this did not disappoint. My only wish is the ending was a little more fleshed out  but it definitely does leave an air of unsettling to have it end the way it did

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Sexism, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage, Confinement, Grief, Death of parent, and Vomit

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Rape, Gaslighting, Drug use, Pregnancy, Cursing, and Alcohol

wild_sazzy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Fantastic book. 
Christina Henry addresses modern day issues in a horror context and I am here for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

viselik's review against another edition

This book needs a fucking content warning. I adored Christina Henry's Lost Boys and was super excited to see a horror/thriller... But I did not expect whatever the fuck this is. I am uncomfortable with the huge focus on Christianity in this book and the undertones of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Animal death, Violence, Domestic abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Vomit and Adult/minor relationship

terry9375's review

dark sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Blood

Moderate: Violence and Vomit

Minor: Sexual assault and Miscarriage

Just for trigger warning. The sexual assault is all off page, and more of a reference to it, not graphic or on page descriptions. Kind of a fade to black style.

lasamviela's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Murder, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Violence, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

antimony's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

2.75

most of the stars go to this being readable, because despite the fact that it wasn't all that good, i flew through it in under 3 hours. this is not a book that slogs along! it's an easy read, maybe entertaining depending on who you are. the writing style didn't agree with me (there was a lack of commas) but that is thoroughly subjective.

the problems lay elsewhere.

like mattie's amnesia, which i don't know. it felt so convenient and she remembered things so conveniently as well. does that make sense? i wish there were fewer flashbacks. and william had no motive and all the characters were one dimensional. like i wish there was some explanation for why william wanted to

kidnap mattie and kill her mom

? and also the reveal that he was

dealing heroin to make money????????

made so sense and didn't fit thematically. and the monster was so nebulous that it didn't ever feel scary because it just felt fake. like i think some authors can get away with never really describing their monsters because that works for cosmic horror. it does not work here. it's like a bear but like a billion times bigger? and is there one or is there two? and it has paws and its eyes glow. that's it.

and dear god the ending is SO unsatisfying. like COME ON. there's no resolution. i'm not saying we have to see every day of mattie adjusting to normal life again but i mean at least some more resolution than that. i like little epilogue chapters where it's like a month later and the main character explains how everything turned out after they killed the monster and passed out in the hospital or whatever. it's like a cliffhanger without a book 2 to follow up and explain all the rest :/

but then again i read this in two hours which was cause for a 5 star rating when i was 13 so do i even have a right to complain?

EDIT and HOW did i forget to mention.

that every time mattie asks about heather and what happened to her cp or jen or griffin are like ???? who's that????? and it's definitely implied that something was up with heather, like was she ever even real? and then that's NEVER resolved.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Animal death and Vomit

jadatrack's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Gore, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Rape, Blood, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Miscarriage

aformeracceleratedreader's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

READ CONTENT WARNINGS
This book! It was highly recommended by a YouTuber I watch and you know what? It was really good. It was scary, especially so since I live in a wooded area and I read it at night. I'm glad I didn't read this in winter because then for sure I'd be even more scared. I do have some questions involving Mattie and the creature but the answers, or lack of them really, do not seriously detract from the book as a whole. Super fast paced and kept me interested the whole time.

I wish Griffin and Jen could've made it out of the mountains with CP and Samantha. Griffin was clearly a good dude and had good friends. Wish we could've found out about how they explained their deaths and how Samantha and CP carried on and healed afterwards. Def would've liked to see a Sam-Heather reunion after all those years

I need to read something light/feel good now since this was a pretty heavy book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Vomit, Confinement, Drug use, and Grief

mapscitiesandsongs's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

All in all this reading experience was disappointing, especially because BooksandLala recommended the book in one of her videos. The most annoying part of this book were the characters. They felt so unrealistic and one-dimensional. William is your typical abusive and religious lunatic that wants his wive all to himself and beats her up for disrespecting him/not being a good wife. I honestly didn‘t buy it. There was not depth to his character. He is just an archetype. Kiran Millwood Hargrave did a much better job at depicting an abusive and religious husband in The Mercies.  On a different note, what were those reactions and dialogs in the most terrifying moments?

A monster throws a human heart through the window? You know what, let's make grilled cheese. Your best friend gets strung up on a tree by his organs? I suddenly feel hungry and want some eggs. Like what?

  No human would react like that. Also what was the point of the whole scene with Mattie and C.P. in the cabin?

There is a creature and a kidnapper out there and they are having these chill conversations without paying attention to the very obvious threat outside. And what was William doing outside all the time? Were did he go? Why didn't the creature hunt him too when he was already injured and that creature supposedly only attacks weak/injured humans? It doesn't make any sense.

The ending was just the cherry on top. It was so rushed and we don't even find out what exactly the monster is. During some parts I felt like the monster was just some metaphor for William which would have made the story that much more interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, and Confinement

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Vomit