Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Eine gefährliche Enthüllung by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

28 reviews

ladybug12793's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

might not be appropriate for YA.

This book has some pretty intense and traumatic scenes that might be too much for the young adult genre. Adult themes with young adult characters. That being said, Jennifer Barnes has a way of writing that makes you not able to see the twists coming. Highly recommend but for more mature audiences. Read this. <spoiler> i’m still team Michael 

This was the best book by far. The next best was book 3, then book 1, and then book 2. 

TW: torture, (g)rape (off the page), kidnapping, cult, child abuse, serial murder, etc. 

0 🌶️ 

* please disregard for medical errors due to voice texting. Thanks.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness and Self harm

charelila'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

laurenkrohn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

ameydireads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

“Home isn't a place. It's not having a bed to come home to, or a yard, or a Christmas tree at the holidays. Home is the people who love you.”

This is the book where everything comes together. The Masters have been watching and they know how to play with the Naturals. 

The human psyche, playing a major role in this book, is what I found most interesting. When it comes to survival, the human brain finds a way to deal with it. It can suppress memories that are too painful. This becomes clear when Cassie struggles to remember her life in Gaither. In some cases when things become unbearable the brain deals with it by creating new personalities—ones that are more adept in handling traumas.

This is exactly what happens to Lorelai. In order to survive as the Pythia, her brain reawakens a personality that helped her earlier in life, during the time she lived with her abusive father. Lorelai loves her children and would do anything to save them—but the goal of this other personality is to survive no matter what, even if it means harming Lorelai’s children. Cassie is confronted by Lorelai’s other personality in a life-or-death situation

and this is where the climax reaches its peak in terms of emotions. 

I love Cassie, Dean, Michael, Lia, and Sloane! Even Nightshade is an interesting character, partially owing to his backstory in becoming a serial killer. The grooming he undergoes is dreadful. Thatcher Townsend, on the other hand, is a character that creeps me out. He cares too little for people and too much for his name and legacy. Every time he spoke, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

I do have some questions about the plot.

How does Malcolm not know how to stab himself without giving rise to suspicion when he is supposed to be the greatest of them all?! As Nine, it is almost unfathomable that he does not think this through. And how is Director Sterling also involved in this cult!! It feels a little out of place and underexplained. The same goes for TA Geoff who makes a sudden appearance. Totally out of place. What was most shocking is that Lorelai dies mere seconds before Agent Briggs arrives. If only they tried to stretch time.

Overall, despite some minor flaws, this book is engaging and an amazing ending to this series. I do hope Laurel gets past the indoctrination. I feel uneasy every time she says “The blood belongs to the Pythia. The blood belongs to Nine.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Infidelity

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Self harm, and Pregnancy

tnemelce's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, and Self harm

turtleswift01's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Literally so insanely insane and so good and I am so upset it’s over.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stalking

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This was a decent conclusion to The Naturals series. The plot felt a bit all over the place and it seemed like we picked up Celine just to move the plot along later in the story- though it was cool to see her character added! It just felt like there was no forethought by the author. I also wish there was more info about the cult, especially with the connection to the town. And the conclusion at the end of the book felt a bit rushed. I thought that the mystery of what happened in the town when Cassie was 6 was interesting. The big reveals/twists were messed up though, but in the best way!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Abandonment

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Medical content

sopherdopher's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

I read these books because they seemed like fun. Ridiculous in concept but something I could read without thinking much. Teens recruited by the FBI and solving crimes, which seem to always connect to their personal baggage! Sure! The first two delivered in that, and wrapped up the love triangle pretty quickly which was a nice sign. But the complete shift in the third book is baffling? And the ending of the fourth book is so unnecessary and awful?? It felt like a soap opera, with too many characters and everyone related and murdering one another. The last two books felt like a different series than the first two. I'm not sure what teenager I would ever recommend this series to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Torture, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Rape

victoria_elaine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This ending was actually insane. I’m so close to giving this 5 ⭐️, but some of the plot line as far as the mystery goes was hard to follow because of how complex it was. HOWEVER, honestly the last 100 pages were nail biters and I could NOT put it down.

I CANT BELIEVE THE DIRECTOR OF THE FBI WAS IN THE MASTERS???

Living for Dran and Cassie. I need more 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 p.s. violence-related trigger warnings y’all please check

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

lkristin2018's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

An intriguing YA mystery featuring the “Naturals.” They start investigating one thing and discover it’s connected with so much more. The relationships between the characters and the thought process they go through to solve crimes are both engaging.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

a main character kills herself so that her child won’t be forced to kill her. There is extreme and vivid violence. There is ritual, cult violence and abuse. It appears that a character has dissociative identity disorder, though it’s not explicitly stated.