Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

62 reviews

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

READ CONTENT WARNINGS
This book! It was highly recommended by a YouTuber I watch and you know what? It was really good. It was scary, especially so since I live in a wooded area and I read it at night. I'm glad I didn't read this in winter because then for sure I'd be even more scared. I do have some questions involving Mattie and the creature but the answers, or lack of them really, do not seriously detract from the book as a whole. Super fast paced and kept me interested the whole time.

I wish Griffin and Jen could've made it out of the mountains with CP and Samantha. Griffin was clearly a good dude and had good friends. Wish we could've found out about how they explained their deaths and how Samantha and CP carried on and healed afterwards. Def would've liked to see a Sam-Heather reunion after all those years

I need to read something light/feel good now since this was a pretty heavy book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Vomit, and Grief

redbirdreading's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

jordanem1995's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

mapscitiesandsongs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

All in all this reading experience was disappointing, especially because BooksandLala recommended the book in one of her videos. The most annoying part of this book were the characters. They felt so unrealistic and one-dimensional. William is your typical abusive and religious lunatic that wants his wive all to himself and beats her up for disrespecting him/not being a good wife. I honestly didn‘t buy it. There was not depth to his character. He is just an archetype. Kiran Millwood Hargrave did a much better job at depicting an abusive and religious husband in The Mercies.  On a different note, what were those reactions and dialogs in the most terrifying moments?

A monster throws a human heart through the window? You know what, let's make grilled cheese. Your best friend gets strung up on a tree by his organs? I suddenly feel hungry and want some eggs. Like what?

  No human would react like that. Also what was the point of the whole scene with Mattie and C.P. in the cabin?

There is a creature and a kidnapper out there and they are having these chill conversations without paying attention to the very obvious threat outside. And what was William doing outside all the time? Were did he go? Why didn't the creature hunt him too when he was already injured and that creature supposedly only attacks weak/injured humans? It doesn't make any sense.

The ending was just the cherry on top. It was so rushed and we don't even find out what exactly the monster is. During some parts I felt like the monster was just some metaphor for William which would have made the story that much more interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Pregnancy

tormerritt's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

This book was awful... To be honest, one of the worst I've read in a while.
**SPOILERS AHEAD** because I need to discuss why this book was so terrible.

First, this book provided a blurb that was somewhat deceiving and didn't give necessary information.

All it stated about one of the main characters, William, is that he is always angry, not that he abuses and rapes Martha or "Mattie" (Samantha, her real name). That is so much more than anger and what bothered me is that the characters were so one-dimensional we know nothing about why William is the way he is.
There are so many plot holes and I have so many questions.
- The biggest question is what the actual f*ck is this "monster" that seems to be hunting them? It's never addressed in the story, except that it might be a bear, or bigfoot, or some cryptid creature. It's described to be so large and on a furious rampage, and attacks their friends in front of them, but they never see it? It's too unrealistic for me.
- What ever happened to Samantha's sister?
- Why are these characters laughing and discussing grilled cheese and cell phones when a human heart was just thrown through the window?
- Where was William hiding out at after Mattie, Jennifer, and C.P. locked themselves in the cabin?
- Why are they so nonchalant for watching their friends get murdered by some unknown creature, all the wile being injured themselves, sleep deprived, and running from this thing on the mountain.
I listened to the Audiobook so maybe it was the narrator, but I don't know of anyone who has so much discussion of casual topics and heavy inner dialogue while literally running for their lives.
The ending pissed me off. C.P.'s arm is bitten off by this creature, Mattie (Samantha) throws William off a cliff. Jennifer's unconscious body that they have been dragging down the mountain on a sled is taken by the creature thing. They suddenly find a road and a truck, jump in and drive to the nearest police station. C.P. falls asleep in the driver's seat and she walks in to the police station, and tells them her name is Samantha (the girl who has been kidnapped and missing for 12 years now). The end.

WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?
This was just so bad and terribly executed. I would not reccomend this to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

This book is filled with to the brim with Trigger Warnings, but none were provided before reading. Please read with caution.

rosemaryslibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

kris_t97's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Very well-paced book showing the darkness of humanity and the unknown.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

There are a lot of graphic themes in this story, so I wouldn't recommend it if these themes are triggering. More of the main character's background is shown later on, but from the first page, there is a lot of dangerous and problematic behaviour experience by her.

afriendwithfiction's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

randiroo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

megansnextread's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

This book was TERRIFYING. I am not easily scared by spooky books, I am not sure why because horror movies are not easy for me to watch. But this one just had me scared for 60% of the read, and it's probably because there's not just one bad guy but two! 

 

Mattie lives in an isolated cabin on a mountain with her abusive husband, William. She comes across a mutilated fox in the woods, and quickly discovers an unknown monster is hunting her, her husband and three strangers. 

 

Please please please read the trigger/content warnings before going into this read. The domestic violence is depicted graphically and at times it is just awful to read. It made it hard for me to pick up this book to continue my read sometimes. I think my only qualms with this read was just the what felt like excessive graphic domestic violence scenes at times. 

 

This book was also very sinister and truly horrifying, finding myself in this situation sounds like a nightmare! If you are looking for a wintery spooky setting this is definitely it. The setting was done really well but also I loved the mystery about learning who Mattie is and where she came from that was very intriguing. 

 

If you think you can handle this book, than you are in for a terrifying ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault