Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

20 reviews

jackieyvette's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Constanta, I would have never treated you like that girl! 
This book was a bright light after a week of slumming through my last book at sloth speed. It’s was dark and cryptic and sad, but also the three are so caring and loving to each other it makes you see them for who they are and not what they’re become. 
Read the TW for this book though there is a lot to deal with. 
It’s a super quick read though I finished it in one sitting.  

Crying score: No, but yes. But no. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gore, Misogyny, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death, Sexism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

rosemaryandrue's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

In a lyrical letter to the lover she killed, Constanta recounts their history together, as well as that of his other 'brides,' and what drove them to do as they did.

I had high hopes for this book. I don't usually love vampire romances, because I feel like they often underplay the dark and twisted nature of the vampires of myth - so the fact that this book promised to go back to those terrifying roots drew me to the book.

The book opens with a striking image - a young woman near death, lying amid her massacred village, and the dark stranger who comes to her offering salvation. It ends with an equally striking image - a husband murdered by his wives, being offered up to a seething crowd bent on revenge. Unfortunately, the pages between these two lodestones are not so gripping.

While I did appreciate the lyrical writing, I felt that sometimes we were led too deep into the morass of it, dwelling in it to exclusion of a more compelling plot. We drift across the centuries in a leisurely fashion, but despite all the places that Constanta and her master go, nothing ever really manages to leave an impression on the reader. Though Constanta is eventually joined by two more 'wives' and falls in love with them both, neither Madgalena or Alexi really feel formed beyond a few impressions about their personalities and what drew them to a life of vampirism.

And so we are left in the end with a few striking images, a narrator floundering in the effort to describe an intense abusive relationship, and a lot of poetic writing. There was definitely a book in this that I would have loved, but for me the delivery fell unfortunately short. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts

molls's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood and Confinement

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Physical abuse, Gore, War, and Misogyny

opalia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is literally my new favorite book. Won over so many classics. It has such beautiful writing, and deep and great characters. Don't even get me started on the prose. I am about to translate it in my mother tongue just to do a whole propaganda to anyone I meet. The message is delivered in the best way, the aesthetics are incredible, the description of human lives and behaviors? I'll literally never get over this, this book is a fever dream, argue with the wall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, and Torture

nikenacs's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Body horror, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

Minor: Addiction

hellodiana's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Toxic relationship, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Alcohol

a_libra_library's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Poetic! Dramatic! I cried the entire time... I'm weak.
Reimaging of Dracula's brides written in letter formats. It's not glamorous or sexy as vampires are usually portrayed. It shows how dangerous and seductive and abusive relationships can get. I feel weird since its an abusive  poly-relationship but the three brides find comfort in each other and are against Dracula.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, War, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Confinement, Death, and Murder

pamcakebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

 ngl i didn't vibe with the writing here, i feel like the prose were too much and underwhelming at the same time, bordering pretentious that it takes me out of the story sometimes. But u know what? this book promise me a queer poly reimagined Dracula, and boy did it deliver and more. I love the dynamic of the characters with each other(specially the sapphics) that in the end i was just rooting and clapping and cheering them on like Yaaas!!!do crime and be gay baby!!! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse and Suicidal thoughts

molliemoments's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Abandonment

angiepoggi's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Scarily accurate abusive relationship, I could understand and feel how the main character Constanta felt and the reasons for her actions being those right or wrong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Colonisation, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Rape, and Lesbophobia