Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede

10 reviews

tamsterdam_reads's review against another edition

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? No

4.75

 Really enjoyed this! Especially loved the romance storyline between the main characters and enough happened within the story that I felt fulfilled even though it ends on a cliffhanger. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Physical abuse

xvicesx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.0

Deeply enjoyed this. The writing really pulls you in and the characters are deeply lovable. You can't help feeling bad for Alessa and the deprivation she's experiencing or root for the slowly blossoming relationship between her and Dante.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Violence, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Physical abuse, Cursing, and Suicide attempt

zarhara's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, War, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Minor: Torture and Child death

readwithria's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted tense fast-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

This Vicious Grace absolutely blew me away! One of the best books I’ve read this year, 5 stars!

Alessa goes through so much growth in this book! She steals every inch of agency she can find, and I love her so much. She learns how to ask for and accept help, she learns how to advocate for herself, and she learns so much about her strength. She’s told for so much of the book that she’s too much - too much power, too much time, too much effort - and she proves to them all that she’s exactly what she needs to be.

This book has such strong themes of connection and community. The found family element was such a surprise, but an absolutely lovely one! The romance was SO CUTE 🥰 Dante is such a sweetheart, even if he acts like an asshole, and he stands up for what he believes in in so many ways. He has so much strength, and he shares it so willingly!

There were twists I didn’t see coming, new informations that I discovered as the characters did, and so many quotes I will want to revisit in the future! But for now I’ll leave you with this:

“We have a bad habit of locking up people who scare us, and the thing that scares men with power most is a woman with more of it.”

I absolutely cannot wait to read the sequel. 5 stars!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Cursing

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, War, Vomit, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Body horror, Physical abuse, Murder, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Stalking, Bullying, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gaslighting, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Police brutality

joygarcialim's review against another edition

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

1.5

The writing wasn’t particular bad, but extremely monotonous and mediocre. A lot of things happened without a lot of things happening. It was just small little things that didn’t contribute to the plot or made a difference to writing. There were bits that were poorly executed and I had to re-read multiple times to try and perceive what the author was trying to convey. There’s the endless stream of proverbs that did nothing and had absolutely nothing to do with the writing as well.

The main characters were kind of bland and replaceable. They didn’t really stand out individually and the writer didn’t give them enough personality to show what their characters were supposed to be. Other than Alessa and Dante of course. Alessa is kind of a woe-is-me character and I get that her life is difficult in many regards but that’s most of her personality. Dante is a tortured devil archetype and kept saying he was evil with no proof. I get that they lived in a world where that mentality is enforced on him but it wasn’t really explained well. Dante was the most interesting character imo.

The chemistry between Alessa and Dante seemed kind of awkward too.

There didn’t seem to be a reason they were in love with each other

, other than their deep-rooted insecurities.

The world-building wasn’t great either. It was there but it wasn’t at the same time. It was just kind of vague but written about enough to let readers know it was there. The author emphasised a lot more on the romance part than the fantasy part.

Overall, very underdeveloped and poorly executed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse and Fire/Fire injury

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Imagine, if you will, Rogue from X-Men but transported into a historical quasi-Italian island setting.  That's basically our heroine, but with the addition of a chosen one trope.  Her power is to amplify that of someone else but if she touches the wrong person, they die.  Her divine goal is to save the world from an apocalyptic event that occurs roughly every 5 years and once the chosen one has saved the island, they lose their powers and another person awakens theirs.  Rinse and repeat.

The chosen one chooses a (life) partner to weather the battle with, and with our main character, she has chosen and killed three times while trying to train for the end of the world.

I have some issues with the book, but overall it was very readable and the ending left enough questions and plot for the next installment.  Not sure if I would continue, but I'm not immediately opposed.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Outing, War, Child abuse, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Blood, Police brutality, Torture, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Sexual content

luckylulureads's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Self harm, War, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

toffishay's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.25

I found the plot interesting and I love Dante and Alessa, but some of the character relationships were grating, <SPOILER> especially with Alessa's family and relationship with Renata and Tomo. They are given redemption of some sort and to varying degrees by the end, but because so much of the middle of the book is dedicated to Alessa learning to work with the Fontes, the resolution with the family, Renata, and Tomo feel a little undeserved. Some people who actively betrayed Alessa were far too readily forgiven in my opinion. I also am uncomfortable with the implication at the end of the book that those who have been prosecuted by the dominate culture and government would be recruited to be an army on their behalf. And that is the term used, not that they would necessarily be reintegrated into the community or asked for forgiveness, but that they needed them as fodder in the coming fight. It may be addressed tactfully in the inevitable next edition, but I am wary. <END SPOILER> The book is funny though and the relationships develop in interesting ways. The understanding paid to Alessa's isolation and pain is really well done too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Alcohol, War, Death, Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Grief, Genocide, Confinement, and Child death

Moderate: Abandonment

demjin's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted 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? It's complicated

3.5

Pre-review 3/Jul/22
This is 3.5 stars, it was gonna be 4 but the ending ruined it for me. I was here for the book and fine with the lackluster worldbuilding when I was enjoying the romance but the ending brought too much plot into the picture that I didn't care enough about. It was like it was trying to be something it didn't need to be.

But I'm always here for grumpy-sexy-deadly bodyguard would do anything for girl when she bats her eyelashes at him trope and I'll stand by that

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Death

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Murder, War, and Suicide attempt