Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Mercy by Ian Haramaki

7 reviews

celestepaed's review

emotional lighthearted 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? It's complicated

3.25

This book is for people who wanted a version of Priest by Sierra Simone that doesn’t make them feel icky about religion or sex. The love between the two main characters is just so pure even if the things they get up to aren’t. The cyclical, anxiety thoughts of the main narrator are authentic and the undoing of said thoughts by the love interest felt natural and earned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Blood, Homophobia, Grief, and Kidnapping

maximauve's review

emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, and Bullying

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

dark emotional 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: Violence, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Cursing

Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body horror, Cannibalism, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

reila's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

The concept and cover art piqued my interest to pick up this book! Ah, but perhaps I put too much in the action/fantasy element, what with the premise of a priest staving off creatures of the Night and all. No, the monsters our pairing fights off are the people and the environment. The denizens of whom our priest Ilya is in service are very ungrateful and hateful to him---especially his mother. These grown adults have been beefing with Ilya since he was 7 years old over something he had no control over. The self-deprecation and angst run strong. My man is 30 and doing his best.

Said townsfolk and alcoholic/abusive mother do not get better. RIP. When Ilya comes out to his surrogate grandmother/guardian, it's painful that she isn't immediately accepting. It sucks being in that situation. Berta is our one supporter, thanks to her positive relationship with Danya. But when the time comes to show solidarity, it's at a strained time where, even if she said something sooner, it wouldn't do anything for the unfolding events.

Our former beast/angel Danya isn't what you'd expect. 'Angel' wouldn't be the first thing you think of with the sailor mouth he has, but the contradictory nature is the allure of the pairing

(bad-mouthing angel himbo and his repressed slutty priest---is it really a spoiler? You know why you picked up this book :) LOL)

. His past and potential unfold as he realizes his raison d'etre: to protect, love, and support his Beloved. A very sweet 'we complete one another' sentiment. Their confession is quite the scene.

Because of the baggage our poor priest has, processing the immensity of his hurts made it a slow read to savor. Consent and aftercare are important and very sexy, by the way. I admit the liberal use of curse words and contemporary-isms consistently threw me from the world, but it also had the secondary effect of snapping me out of Ilya's ruminations---*raises glass* <i>heed this lesson, fellow overthinkers</i>---apart from being relatable, I thought it was funny (which is very much a 'me' thing). So, if you're in the mood for a comfort/hurt romantic fantasy, come get your food!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Child abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Alcoholism

haileeraye's review

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Gore, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

elliottjunkyard's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Grief

atlastheninth's review

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this book because I loved the authors short story in "Devout" and I was not disappointed! 

This was the perfect book for me: A queer angel, pining, a bit of hurt/comfort and great character development. There even was a bit of plot, good plot! The ending was very satisfying, but still set up the story for the next book in this series and I will definitly read that too. 

 

While this is a romance book, the world-building (mostly religion-building I suppose) was nicely weaved into it. 

 

Now most of the book is told from Ilyas POV, but there are a few chapters told from Danyas. And I love both of them so much. Danya who just wants to protect Ilya, take car of him and show him how much he loves him. And Ilya who is hated by the whole village, who's never felt unconditional love, who thinks that he will die alone and unloved and who that he's not even worthy of love, let alone of Danyas. 

The pacing was great too. The slow change of Ilya from this to allowing himself to be loved was *chefs kiss*. 

Also splitting the books into two parts (a "before" and "after") and calling the first one "Night" and the second one "Day"? Genius, I love it. 

 

I have no notes. 

 

"They were both impossible men who had been hurt by so many things, trying to heal the other and find comfort in them. [...] They would come out of this together, stronger together, happier together." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

Minor: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Death of parent

abusive parent, abusive church dynamics