Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Small Favors, by Erin A. Craig

20 reviews

hanna's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

1.5

Idk what Craig is smoking but I hope she gets the help she obviously needs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy

miyothecat's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I cannot believe how misogynistic this book was. And it’s written by a woman. Virginity culture? Check. Slut shaming? Check. Women serving men? Check. And for what?? Nothing happened out of it. It didn’t turn out to be a plot point in the book or anything. It was just there for misogyny’s sake. The protagonist was a girl but she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders and let others (as well as herself) humble her. I’m sick and tired of selfless female characters who only exist for others and only gets complete when they have a male love interest. 

The only good thing about this book was the idea of the monsters and the plot twist was way too predictable from page 60 and the last encounter with the monsters turned out to be really cheesy in the last chapters. Disappointed. This book had potential but was wasted in the hands of Erin A. Craig. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Pregnancy

ashlikes's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Alcoholism

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

krispy_reading's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this book, but the ending was definitely YA. I need to track down a similiar book but in adult. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Abandonment, Body horror, Injury/injury detail, Religious bigotry, Murder, Medical trauma, and Animal death

Minor: Pregnancy

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

tkatt20's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Small Favors was everything I had hoped it would be and more. This book had the perfect amount of suspense and untrustworthy characters, I found myself completely unable to put it down. Every character had a story and role to play and different motives, it plays masterfully into the human condition and how some people will do anything in their power to help themselves or the ones they love. It makes you think twice about trusting anyone you meet or even your family. This was definitely more of a slow burn thriller with a lot of suspense leading up to the ending, but its so well written I never felt it was boring. There was always some sort of action or event going on, and I loved the descriptions of the bees added in between and how it weaves in with the darker aspects of the story. 
 While I did truly love this book, I do believe it could have used an extra chapter right at the end or an epilogue. Open-ended books can work in many cases, but I dont usually favor them, and there was one very glaring question I was left with that would have been resolved by this addition and would have made this book perfect for me. Any books by Erin A. Craig have been added to my must buy list and I'm looking forward to any future novels by her!
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

Minor: Religious bigotry, Vomit, and Suicide

nrogers_1030's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy

voilajean's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Pregnancy and Misogyny