Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig

13 reviews

seforana's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, and Gun violence

bosco29's review against another edition

I loved the author's other books but by the end of Chapter 13 of this one, I had zero interest in any of the characters and decided to stop reading it.  The House of Salt and Sorrows and House of Roots and Ruin were magnificent, beautiful, exciting, spooky, and dark and you feel strong em tions for the characters while this one is just boring and dark.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, Grief, and Pregnancy

luna_lovelace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The bright yellow cover of the book initially drew me in, little did I know how deceiving it was! It took a while for the story to build up, but once it did, I found myself hooked by the strange events that began to unfold. The author did an excellent job of keeping me engaged during the last half of the story, and I struggled to put the book down.

I realized that there were a few unanswered questions that left me wondering.

For example, I couldn't help but question if Ellerie's parents were still alive and safe. Also, I was curious about why Whitaker was released from his bonds when Ellerie wished for them to leave the town and not return. These questions left me feeling a bit unsatisfied, but I suppose it's up to our interpretation of what happens next!

The ending was a bit anticlimactic.

However, after all the twists and turns throughout the story, it was a relief to see Ellerie have a resemblance of a happy ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, Blood, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

lauramcc7's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Vomit, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Violence, Animal death, Murder, and Pregnancy

immovabletype's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, and Xenophobia

Minor: Misogyny

magellen's review

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Hooray for a sophomore success! This book is much more cohesive than House of Salt and Sorrows- that said, it still takes a *long long* time to set things up. 3/8ths of the way in felt like the inciting moments, the plot finally showing up to the party.

Once it's in motion, the plot carries along on its own. The nebulous setting flounders through the front half, making it hard to tell just when and where we are, which winds up making it feel like The Village for a stretch. Though it lacks much flavor for voice, the moments of tension/horror are well built and sustained on a razor wire, satisfying to squirm over - there is a lot of blood in this book and talk of the smell of blood so heads up.

Overall, it's a stellar follow up that leans into the fear and reality more than the frothy illusion of S&S. It runs long, or slow, depending how you consider the word count load but it does eventually find uses for most of those words. With yet again a large cast, there's a lot of threads to tie at the end and only a handful of them stay knotted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Pregnancy

ka_ke's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

Small Favours certainly has dark christianity based undertones. I’m not sure if this is intentional or if I’m simply projecting my own experiences on the story. Otherwise, Small Favours is a fun thriller. Watching the towns people slowly lose themselves to insanity is creative, dark and immersive. Another win for Erin A. Craig. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Violence, Body horror, Grief, and Misogyny

Minor: Colonisation, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

bwwilhelm's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is not for the faint of heart, but it was damn good! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Grief

andromeda_1998's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Small favors took me by surprise. I really enjoyed myself while reading it and I’m not sure if I will ever be able to find something like that again. I hope that the writer will someday decide to write a second book because some things are left unanswered but I like it as a stand-alone. The books has some dark and tense elements that I loved but I would have enjoyed it more if we had seen even more of this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, and Misogyny

marchhare89's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

“Would you follow me into the underworld?”

This just might be my favorite book of the year so far as well as an all time favorite. It was so much more than I expected and I was absolutely blown away. I saw someone describe this as “prairie horror”, which is something that felt made for me. It’s like The Village mixed with Midnight Mass. Small Favors is unsettling, immersive, atmospheric, and beautifully dark. Unending stars from me. 5 is not enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Violence, Animal death, and Blood