Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner

22 reviews

absolutenonsenz's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

While not as good as Sarah Penner's The Lost Apothecary, I really like how mysterious this book was, and how she pulled historical themes into her writing. I didn't feel overly attached to any particular character, but I liked the mystery of who killed Evie. Overall, a well written book. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Alcohol

saramassoudi's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

ghostmomxoxo's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury

abnormal_shadow's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

So, this book was recommended to me by someone who had read the Last Binding Trilogy (a book series i love very much and everyone should read) saying it was pretty similar which I do get. I like that the book is based off sort of off real life setting and Seance craze as stated by the author in the note they left. When I first started to book, I assumed it predictable from what I could see but as the story progressed, I realized I knew nothing of what was going to happen, guessing something spot on and others very much wildly wrong. I like that the romance was not the A plot and not even the B plot more of a side to the main course that was the 2 murder mysteries. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol

blissofalife's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

An interesting read! I enjoyed reading it, though each time I put it down I struggled to want to pick it back up. The ending was satisfying, and the non-linear timeline was well done!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Blood, and Alcohol

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

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Content Warnings

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

whimsylee's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Loved the Victorian spiritualism  and the sapphic romance. The mystery pulled me in and compelled me to keep reading. Some of the writing was redundant and I personally disliked the use of misogyny in this book. If you like spooky/historical mysteries and sapphic romance, I recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

emilywemily6's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This one is kind of hard for me to rate, especially because I loved Penner’s first book! The writing at the beginning was hard to follow and so I was confused for the first half of the book that the beginning seance was Evie’s. The first half was kind of slow while the second half got more interesting and definitely picked up speed. I feel like these characters were overly sexualized and the focus on lust detracted from the story and from the other personality traits of the characters- literally everyone is obsessed with sex in this book. I found the society’s secrets very intriguing and how the scandal kept growing, though some of the “twists” were very predictable. I also feel like the ending wrapped up too nicely because of the paranormal being able to do things these characters could not. Lenna did some stupid things and often didn’t even try to fight her way out of tricky situations. I would have appreciated a bit more effort on her part. This book feels  different than Penner’s previous and while I generally enjoyed it, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcohol

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Violence, and Murder

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

passionatereader78's review

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a fun whodunit! I enjoyed reading this murder mystery. When Lenna's sister is found murdered she enlist the help of her mentor, Vaudeline. Vauldeline and Lenna are invited into the exclusive world of the Seance Society. The information that the two women find threatens both of their wellbeing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Alcohol