Reviews with content warning for Blood - Yellow Jessamine

This book was so fucked up, but in the best sense of the word. I wouldn't really say it won me over, but by the end when everything became clear to me, I enjoyed it a lot more, especially after I found out why this book was given that title (imaginary what can I say). This book was very dark and scary, basically it was a bit similar to The Poison Diaries in terms of atmosphere, but not quite.

The characters were relatively okay, but I especially liked Evelyn (the main character) because she was closer to a

villain

than a hero and I could identify with her surprisingly easily, because it is very rare to read from this point of view. Perhaps I simply understood her suffering, I understood the reason for her actions, and looking back, I would do the same now. Unfortunately, the others didn't really get a role, so I can't write about them. The love story was a bit forced for me (there wasn't really a love story), but it was cute.

It was a good book, but the content was equal to zero, we stumbled through all 135 pages, which is exactly why it took me longer than usual to read it. As I said, the plot was boring, but at least it was interesting and most of the chapters ended with cliffhangers, which kept my spirits up.

This wasn't the story of a grieving widow or a witch, it was a woman's story who did bad things in a bad world but did everything she could to keep her soul.

Content Warnings

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

2.5

I found this book to be on the boring side. Maybe there wasn't enough build-up for me but I found it hard to really get into the action or feel compelled to care a lot about the secondary conflicts that were at play. I wanted more clarity from the major conflict, too.

Content Warnings

applepieandeve's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

aardwyrm's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

All atmosphere, and it's good atmosphere, so it doesn't matter too much that the very little plot there is wouldn't hold together in a stiff breeze. The supernatural stuff is entirely mysterious until a giant info dump at the end, which is genre standard and kind of how Starling does it, in my experience, but it's perfectly respectable. Evelyn herself is a bit of a weak link, as she's presented as a conniving, ruthless strategist, but on page all we see her do is act in the most suspicious way possible and make the worst available decisions no matter how little sense they make. But the vibes are the star of the book. All the grim, oozing decadence is very effective.

Content Warnings