Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

4 reviews

shadow_cat94's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

This book is focused on the generational trauma and displacement caused from colonization in Vietnam shown  through a single family and the house they're rebuilding over a summer.

The main character, Jade, is struggling with feelings of abandonment by her estranged father and coming out to her family as bisexual. These manifest in fights with her father and a new potential friend, Florence, at every opportunity. Her sister, Lily, is forced to be the peacekeeper as she wants to have her father back in not only her life, but everyone's life again.

I found the flash stories written from the house's POV endearing. The story overall felt like it fell flat in the ending for me. I didn't like the final interaction between Jade and Ba, it left a bad taste in my mouth. The way the sisters never talked it out or talked anything out, yet had this perfect relationship prior to going into that house seemed off to me as well. I loved the mom. She was written consistently enough and often enough that I was satisfied with her part in the ending,

it didn'tfeel like a deus ex machina.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Car accident, Abandonment, and Alcohol

There is a death by burning in this story along with other types of deaths. They're not in graphic detail, but you are "present" with the MC when it happens for the most part.

torismazarine's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol

pey333's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Racism, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Violence and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Biphobia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Murder

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

This is a pretty solid YA haunted house story. There are some really effective scares in here and I loved the Vietnamese setting, but sometimes feelings and character motivations got a bit lost in the flowery writing and the romance didn't really work for me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Moderate: Body horror, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Gaslighting, and War

Bugs