Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain

19 reviews

gracescanlon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Grey, girl, love ya but man are you dumb like 60% of the time.

Dark, twisty, tense, deeply sad and intensely atmospheric — Dark and Shallow Lies is a heavy read, but worthwhile. It knocked the wind out of me completely time and time again. Sain did a wonderful job with the setting; as a Southern girl from a swamp-like area myself, I felt myself choking on the humidity and heat as much as the secrets. 

I especially liked how “full circle” the book was — specifically with uncovering the secrets and lies that poisoned La Cachette and ultimately led to so much death and pain.

Not sure I believe the “sparks” Grey feels when Zale touches her aren’t just his power rather than her body’s natural reaction to him, but he’s sweet, so I’ll allow it.

Also wasn’t a huge fan of the Hart and Elora bit, especially since he seemed so sketchy in a dangerous way throughout the book. HOW is it that almost no other reviews mention that???? There was also no real hint as to their being involved in any way, though that could be attributed to Grey’s being kinda dumb. Also their being together was kinda gross — they’ve lived as siblings for more than half their lives? It’s not like their parents are newly married, which would still have been eh but much better than two kids raised as siblings for like a decade “falling in love.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Confinement, Incest, Pedophilia, Slavery, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Outing, Abandonment, and Colonisation

chanlo1994's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The scenery details are so realistic. I can smell the mud and feel the heat of the Gulf Coast. I really love Ginny's writing.

The ending!!!! I'm like WHOA. The way it wraps up... its incredible. Genius, really. I might have to sit on my couch and do nothing but process for a couple minutes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, and Blood

Additional content warnings: drowning, hurricanes

izzyvioletgrace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

hollyheartless's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I have very mixed feelings about this book. This is quite fast paced and I was very hooked on finding out what happened. Part of me loves the dark atmosphere and the absolute rollercoaster I was on in trying to solve the mystery I did not trust any of these characters apart from MC Grey. The history of the characters and world building was clearly really thought out and clear while reading. There are some very clever snippets of writing using small visions of text to build a whole scene which I thought was brilliant!! However, I will say I didn’t feel fully satisfied with the ending of the book as a whole in the epilogue, I feel like I have a lot of questions still unanswered. Also there are a lot of triggers with this book, including child death, abuse, alcoholism and brief mentions of self harm. It is a dark and more mature book, one that I would read again but I wouldn’t be in any rush to 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Truly shocked by how much I wound up enjoying this book. Nothing was predictable and each twist shocked me more than the last. 

Harts tempted should’ve been a dead giveaway but knowing the summer 10 had lost three before adulthood allowed the reader to excuse it as grief. He shouldn’t have kept the secrets he did, but even then he was not the worst … no one could’ve seen Evie’s plot twist coming. 

I fell for her being the victim, haunted both literally and by grief for those of their group who passed. Finding out it was her literally being haunted by guilt and by Elora for killing her left my jaw on the floor.

Overall, I loved the magical aspect of all these psychic abilities those in  La Cachette had. The intrigue that followed decades of murders, guilt and lies. Ginny is a beyond talented author, truly having my heart beat for all the

summer 12

while I devoured this book whole. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

calcifersembers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest and Pedophilia

alyssa_s10's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.25

I read this book for my ABC reading challenge.  I liked the atmosphere of the book. However I feel as if the main character was a bit to naive for my taste. The twist and turns of this book make up for it. 

I had a feeling that Hart new more than he led on, but I could have never guessed that it was the youngest kid. One thing I don't like was how they sympathetic the main character is to the killer. This also reminds me of a true crime case I have read about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Suicide

Minor: Incest and Self harm

powellki's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I enjoyed the premise of this book, I enjoyed the beginning mystery. I wanted to know what had happened to Elora as badly as Grey did. There were a few twists and turns in the book I didn't see coming, especially the last hour of the audiobook. I am very disappointed with the ending because it turned into a very twisted love triangle (that had been hinted at throughout the book), and ends with the unnecessary death of multiple characters. I was also unhappy with the epilogue because it ends ambiguously. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood and Alcohol

rayneyisreading's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Gun violence

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicide

Minor: Rape