Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

5 reviews

doahdancer'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is going to be my dark horse of 2024. I was expecting only 25% of the amazing story that was delivered. This has epic enemies to lovers, amazing plot twists, yearning, spice, a well designed magic system... when a reviewer I trust DNF'd this book I seriously questioned if I should bother, but as usual, letting myself make up my own mind was the best choice.

Hard disagree with this being labeled YA. This is solidly NA as the themes are intense. Mind the TWs, but barring those, run, don't walk, to read this book.

Sequel coming Feb 2025.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Toxic relationship, Death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Child death

olyviatb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Death, Blood, Violence, Self harm, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual harassment, Child death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Toxic relationship

The main type of magic system is blood magic so they obtain blood by either cutting themselves or other people so that might be triggering for some people.

teganbeesebooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

I figured out the twist early on, but still enjoyed it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, War, Murder, Death of parent, Gun violence, Blood, Cursing, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Child death, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

nerdybirdy101's review against another edition

4.0

“Scars signaled wealth and rank, most of all, magic.”

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

It took me until 20-25% of the book to get into it, which was a bummer. The first quarter of the book was underwhelming, it set the scene but could have done a better job. Rune and Gideon flirting with each other and using each other to their advantage was beautiful! The slow-burn enemies-to-lover vibe of the book was done perfectly! A witch and a witch-hunter that I need to be forever together. I loved how they called each other out on the stereotypes they both had. The side characters were interesting too. The twist at the end set up the sequel decently. 

A note on the magic system in this book, you need blood. The blood is technically supposed to be ‘alive’ to be still active. If you are squeamish about blood, cutting/harming oneself, or cutting/harming others then you might not be able to handle this book. I do hope there will be more explorations of the magic system and maybe an alternative method. 

I did have a concern that this book would mirror Serpent and Dove a lot because when I first heard the synopsis there were some similarities, but the books just have the similarities that the FMC is a witch and the MMC is a witch-hunter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Child death

jennalerm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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: Child death, Suicide, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent