Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner

7 reviews

kelisabeth's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Biphobia, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Classism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, and Gore

blucbell's review

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.5

it was difficult for me to get along at first, but the further i read after chapter 30, the tense started to intrigue me, it was a relief after all. i enjoyed the ending. personally, this book gave me the combined vibes of enola holmes, peaky blinders and fantastic beasts, thus its a merely reason for me to finish it

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Violence

mckiheather's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A great book, it had so many twists but they all unfolded so naturally I just had to think like “of course”. I loved how the whole depth of the conspiracy was never unveiled at once, there was never a moment with like the villain monologue that gives away the whole plan. You alternated POV between Lenna and Morley and pieced together the story as they unveiled what they each knew, and what they each discovered.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Misogyny, and Confinement

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Blood, Gore, Homophobia, and Sexual content

blackcatkai's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

CW: blood, murder, death, lite sexual content, ableism, body shaming, gaslighting, sexism, sexual assault, alcohol, fire, classism, homophobia, toxic relationships, grief, some gun violence 

it was ok. I would've liked it more without Morleys POV but whatever. love me a good sapphic love story with ghosts. more of that, please! 

honestly my biggest issue was the constant framing of a port wine stain birthmark being ugly. I know this is a historical novel, but it is so frustrating seeing it constantly mentioned throughout the book. ready player one did this too and it pisses me off. 

your birthmark is not an imperfection, a problem, nor is it disgusting. there is nothing wrong with any type of birthmark, regardless of where it is. what size it is. nor its colouring. and dont let anyone or any book make you feel otherwise. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Classism, Murder, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Body shaming, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Ableism, Violence, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Alcohol

felofhe's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Cursing, Death, Murder, Blood, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Sexual content

kelly_e's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

Title: The London Séance Society
Author: Sarah Penner
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 2.75
Pub Date: March 7, 2023

T H R E E • W O R D S

Atmospheric • Reckless • Mystifying

📖 S Y N O P S I S

1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike.

Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I am a sucker for a gorgeous floral cover, and this one certainly fits the bill, meaning I added it to my TBR without even reading the synopsis. Maybe that's where I made my first mistake, but this book ended up just not working for me.

The premise of two women performing séances in order to solve murders was so clever. And in my opinion the first 50 pages were very atmospheric and mysterious drawing me into the depths of the Victorian era. While I do have an interest in the afterlife and spiritual world, for me there was too much focus on the whodunit aspect than the actual paranormal aspect. As the story unfolds, it gets overly repetitive and it is easy to figure out who did it very early on. Therefore, the unraveling of the mystery felt sooooooo drawn out, and the séance wasn't as big a part of the story as it should have been.

But my biggest qualm is with the audio. It irritates me to no end when narrators mispronounce words in audiobooks. In this one there are a lot of French words or words drawn from the French language, and as someone who speaks French, these mispronunciations were incredibly bad! Like not even close! This issue could have been avoided if I'd kept to reading with my eyeballs, but I am not sure I'd have been able to make it through if I'd stuck to just the written copy.

At the end of the day, this one just fell really flat for me in its execution. I didn't care about or connect with any of the characters. And of course, I had a hard time getting passed the poor attempt at French by the narrators.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of Murder She Wrote
• readers who like paranormal historical fiction

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"We may die, but we are never really gone."

"There's no money in truth." 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Death

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Confinement, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

sibling death

heavster's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, and Sexism

Minor: Sexism and Sexual content