Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

10 reviews

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Misogyny, Murder, Drug use, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Blood, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide attempt, Medical content, Suicide, and Infertility

eilidhmo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

3.5

Mixing a magical fantasy and western is such a great combo and I really enjoyed every time we got to see a little more about this world our characters live in. The growth of Aster as a main character was also great to see and her arc was very much an integral part of the story, if a bit predictable at times.

Stories about found family bonds, overcoming past traumatic experiences and fighting the system are always ones I enjoy, I just found that there was something missing for me personally with this one. I really wanted to love this book as it came so highly recommend to me by a friend but I just liked it. I definitely had to talk myself into picking it up and reading a couple chapters a few times but overall I enjoyed the story.

This world has so much potential and I hope more of it is explored in books to come as Davis is an extremely talented writer. If dark fantasy adventure, standing up for yourself and sisterhood are your jam, definitely give this book a read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Abandonment, Addiction, Drug use, and Infertility

letsgolesbians's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

the diverse baseline challenge gave me a reason to finally reread the good luck girls by charlotte nicole davis, a fantasy western in which teenage girls take back their autonomy. 

on their sixteenth birthday/luck night, daybreak girl become night rise girls aka good luck girls and go from cleaning and cooking etc to being sex workers for the welcome house. the opening chapter takes place on clementine’s luck night, wherein she kills her brag (the word used for welcome house clients) because he chokes her. clem runs away with her older sister aster and three girls from the welcome house: tansy and mallow, who are younger than clem and have not been forced into sex work yet, and violet, who is aster’s age and the pet of the welcome house because she was born there. this world doesn’t have the same race and ethnicity descriptions we do, but clem and astrid are Black (astrid is on this cover), tansy is described as a light brown, mallow is said to have white skin and freckles and is indigenous, and violet is white. 

i’m not going to try to explain the whole world and magic system, but here are some important pieces. there are spirits with varying levels of violence and men who can control the minds of the good luck girls through the tattooed “favors” on their necks, on top of a system of oppression similar to the capitalistic hellscape we’re in now. people work themselves to death in mines to pay off their debts, families sell their daughters to welcome houses to pay off debts, and when the girls run away, they’re running into a violent world that still feels like a better option than staying in the welcome house. 

their destination is lady ghost, who can remove their favors from their necks which will give them a chance to start over. they befriend a guy named zee and find an underground (literally) network of people whose goal is to build through the network of abandoned mines until they’re able to reach outside of arketta. tansy and mallow are sapphics and are able to be together when they’re all on the run, and neither violet or aster are pushed into a love story. 

there were a few times i thought it was unrealistic how quickly characters recovered from injuries, but other than that i really enjoyed rereading this and am going to see if the library has the sequel. 

photo posted at TheSelfishSapphic on ig:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3tTRDSPtg1/?igsh=NzBmMjdhZWRiYQ==

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Addiction, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

directorpurry's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Torture, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Drug abuse

kat_mayerovitch's review

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I'm not normally into westerns (even fantasy westerns), but this book was a great read. There was a lot left unanswered (how are people's shadows removed? how exactly is race tied to debt?), but the story and character development itself made it worthwhile. I love the idea of escaped comfort women banding together to steal from their oppressors and help others in their situation, even if they fell into it half by accident. Like Robin Hood meets Thelma and Louise or something. Anyhow, this was a great start to a series!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Child abuse, and Trafficking

Minor: Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Physical abuse, and Addiction

aleksandra2611's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

nikspandya's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.5

Highly recommend to anyone trying to get out of a reading slump. This fast-paced, fantasy western world has highs and lows, dark tunnels with the light at the end, fantastic bandit scenes, and a group of girls creating a life they never had the option to dream about before their escape. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Trafficking

hev139's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Trafficking

ohheyandi's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I didn't think I'd love this book as much as I did. The characters are pretty well fleshed out and compelling, and I really enjoyed the Western-esque setting. And honestly, I'm also a sucker for analogue swear words. You can bet I'm adding "ripping" into my mental rolodex of phrases. I will say the plot get a bit repetitive, but honestly it felt episodic and I didn't mind. I'm going to be thinking about this book for days.
Also, I was getting a bit of a gay vibe from Violet and Aster, so I'm kind of hoping we get to see that relationship (either romantic or platonic, honestly both are good) develop more in the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Racism, and Trafficking

Moderate: Infertility, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

jerusha's review

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Racism