Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

10 reviews

slburg's review

emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness and Classism

Minor: Car accident and Death

fanboyriot's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-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? No

4.0

🔥 Slow Burn

🤝 Mutual Pinning

💍 Arranged Marriage

This book was great for people wanting to read sci-fi but get overwhelmed by the thought of it.  Besides few names I had to look up the pronunciation of, it was fairly easy to read.  I enjoyed how well the sci-fi and romance mixed with this book, there was also a bit of mystery to the plot as well.

Kiem was honestly such a lovable idiot and worked so well with Jainan.  I would have liked a little more romance but the plot was good too.  The romance itself is a bit of a slow burn, the main plot, focusing much more on the political scheming, and an alleged murder that might just be a cover-up, and in general dealing with diplomatic relations.

I got this book from Etsy in a Blind Date with a Book from @theannexlibrary and was so happy with it!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1366979807/

Spice Level: 🌶️ (1/5)

Release Date: 28, December 2021

POV: Duel, Third Person 

Rep: LGBTQIA+ characters, Domestic Abuse (past)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Torture

Minor: Blood, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Bullying, Mental illness, Cursing, Murder, Racism, Car accident, and Confinement

thoseoldcrows23's review

adventurous funny 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

3.0

 I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. There are some solid bones here; however, I think the execution was clunky and deeply unsatisfying in a lot of places. This was sold to me as a sci-fi romance, and, while I love speculative romance in general, I find that sometimes authors struggle to balance the speculative plot and the romance, and I think that that was a problem here. Much of the book’s energy is put into the science fiction plot and the romance suffers for it. By the end of the book our two leads are talking about how much they love each other I couldn’t fathom why. A big part of the reason for that is that the entirety of the romance pivots on chronic miscommunication, which I found absolutely infuriating. It feels like they barely know each other because all their conversations are riddled with misunderstanding. They each spend way more time in their own heads when they're talking to each other than they do focused on the other person.  So much of the tension between the two leads would be completely gone if they would just behave like adults and talk honestly with each other but they don't do that until over halfway into the book. At the same time, the sci-fi plot wasn't compelling enough to warrant all the focus that was put on it. It's effectively a mystery plot, and I didn't find myself particularly caring who the culprit turned out to be, and in fact struggled through most of the book to even remember who people were because nobody really stood out that much besides our two main characters. Overall, this was just a big letdown for me. It's not a bad book, and I understand why people like it, but I definitely think it's been way overhyped, and this is a story that could have been told much more effectively than it was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual content, War, and Alcohol

kirkspockreads's review

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-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: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Mental illness, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Cursing, Sexual violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Grief

maevemil's review

slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Torture

mazomazli's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• 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

I absolutely enjoyed this book! Please note that it deals with past domestic violence however it is done with An extreme amount of care that if you usually avoid books with these because it is triggering you might find this story therapeutic. My absolute favorite part of the main relationship was the way that boundaries were respected, encouraged, and reinforced every step of the way. I also enjoy the main storyline though it could’ve used a bit more to make this a perfect 5/5 stars book for me.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Torture, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Colonisation

dolores_madil's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

werewolvesnotswearwolves's review

adventurous reflective tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Violence, Mental illness, Medical content, Blood, Torture, Death, Sexual content, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Drug abuse

albireotales's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Loved this book. It had a lot of politics, the romance is slow-burn, and it's not the main theme in the plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Kidnapping

water_violin's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Whew. Check the trigger warnings for this one, folks, but it was really engaging! I was very drawn into the characters and the political intrigue and the mystery of the whole story, but I also appreciated the little things like the banter between the characters and the fascinating ideas about gender and political titles. I would definitely recommend this book, but again... check the warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Confinement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Kidnapping