Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

16 reviews

bb_11's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I was routinely shocked at how the author managed to make such an interesting topic so trite and bland. Whenever the chance for an interesting development occured, she always seemed to pick the biggest and most entirely predictable cliche possible.  If this was their intention and they sought to replicate the air of cheesy horror that is an often discussed theme of the book, they still managed to make it as watered down as possible at every chance.  Must read if your favorite books are the ones you can guess the plot twists in by the 1/4 mark.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Animal death, Gore, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment and Alcohol

kier__'s review

dark emotional reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Violence, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

karalynaa's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Animal death

kaylasoos's review

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

tiddlerrr's review

dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I bought this book on a whim to keep me occupied for an afternoon train journey, which it succeeded in doing. However, I think it struggles to decide whether it is a comedy-horror or not, and personally I didn’t find it particularly scary/horrifying. After going into this blind about anything that happened I do think that’s the best way to experience it, as it is VERY predictable in places. The MC is also not likeable and I don’t think she is meant to be, however all of the progression/development/action seems to happen at the end whereas the first two thirds are largely filler. It was a decent read and kept me occupied for an afternoon, but I don’t think I’d ever read it again.

I do also think the satanic cult “twist” was a bit overdone and would have been scarier if it was a Christian cult or something else entirely. Lucifer being her absent father felt very tropey, and as a someone who is normally lover of tropes, I mean that in a bad way.

I also didn’t really understand the point of the epilogue, the whole thing just kind of…ends.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Grief, and Child abuse

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, and Alcoholism

flaminggecko's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death and Cursing

rachaelwho's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Repetitive. Pacing issues. Didn't quite make sense. Protagonist is characterized as tough and difficult, but there's really no evidence of her being outwardly hostile (though she is often judgy, resentful and sullen internally) or fighting what she's supposed to do at pretty much any turn, other than leaving the faith and

dressing inappropriately at her cousin's wedding to passive-agressively outshine her (but even then, she pulls her punches and brings a cardigan to cover up)

. If this is supposed to be happening (a la being a lamb)... It's not particularly impactful or clear bc it's not consistent; she's constantly described as being a massive bitch who doesn't think about others' feelings or expectations, but she almost never acts out

until the final conflict

. CW for

cults and religious abuse

, which I didn't see available in the section for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Violence

slackermodenation's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Death, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

alexisgarcia's review

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? Yes

0.25

this is one of the worst books i’ve read this year, and just in general. the plot is incredibly misleading. the very early “twist” should’ve been mentioned in the synopsis, if it was i never would’ve read this. i think books should 100% mention if there are supernatural aspects, because that is a huge part of the book and something i don’t usually enjoy. the characters were flat and none of them were tolerable. the major plot twist is incredibly silly and just juvenile to me. overall, i don’t think this was written well at all and it was just silly, and not in a good way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Stalking, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, and Addiction

shaunashares's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Body horror

Moderate: Abandonment