Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

147 reviews

tiudragonfly's review against another edition

Extremely gory, sexist and racist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Classism, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Toxic relationship, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

kimbaudelaire's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A bit of a slow burner but overall entertaining. The gaslighting  and marriages were way scarier and bone chilling than the monster itself. 
Miss Greene was my favorite character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Child death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Gore, Sexual violence, Dementia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Sexism, and Infidelity

justmys's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

dfram's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

the characters were well written and the plot was interesting! i absolutely hate men and i love that this book proves me right for it 😌 the full circle vibe on the last chapter was everything i wanted this ending to be! i was expecting more fantasy than i got

and i was expecting less girl boss energy than i got, that was a pleasant surprise

i liked the writing style and the longer chapters! i also am a big fan of all the foreshadowing!!! overall, a good pick for this month

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gaslighting, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Sexism, Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Infidelity, Medical content, Animal cruelty, and Drug use

averageawkwardasian's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

3.5

Listened to audiobook narrated by Bahni Turpin. 

Overall fun and entertaining with a enjoyable imprecation of the vampire troupe. Love the female lead and female centric supporting cast. 

Narrator basically saved the book for me. Around the 75% mark it feels the story is dragging too long too much.

Putting a 3-year gap in the plot before the plot twist makes it difficult to stay engaged to the book.

If it wasn't for the entertaining performance of the narrator I would have dropped it. Huge kudos to Bahni Turpin.

Upon review I realized it is littered with triggers. While most are relevant to the plot, some are graphic enough I found mildly unsettling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Body horror, Racism, Rape, Gaslighting, Violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexism, Gore, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Infidelity, Child death, Death, and Suicide

hannahhmh's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Mental illness, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Classism, Suicide, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual violence, Gore, Excrement, Blood, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Death of parent, Sexism, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Body horror, and Alcoholism

apriltee's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, Mental illness, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexism, Gore, Rape, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Racism, and Pedophilia

_cecilie_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.5

 If someone had told me this was written by a woman, I would have said 'of course, who else could portray such a story so believably', and that is the highest praise I can give in this context. I came to this book expecting a fast-paced, thrilling and ultimately amusing read like the title suggests. Instead, I was frustrated 80% of the time, cried twice and ranted to three seperate people about the absolute gall this novel had to be actually impactful, thought-provoking and indignation-inducing despite having peaches bleeding from puncture wounds on the cover!

I will not repeat all my rantings and ravings here but compile a few of the points I thought most important. First, I really respect that this story would work almost as well if it had no fantasy in it at all and that it is frustrating but in a good, a real way. Patricia (and the other women in this story) is undervalued, not being believed, made to feel small and helpless and if you have any semblance of empathy it will make you curse and seethe on their behalf while feeling as powerless as them. Not to say that these are unproblematic characters, oh no! If you have a problem with reading about sexist or racist characters then maybe skip this one entirely, especially if you have the feeling that you need to brush up on your media literacy skills. All of these characters are flawed but at the same time distinct, fleshed out and worthy of sympathy. 

I loved (hated, but it was a good kind of hate) that all of them had to sacrifice something, that nothing was sunshine and rainbows at the end but they had to deal with real consequences. Also, I'm not saying that chopping up poeple you hate is a great way to deal with them but some just have it coming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Rape, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Violence, Body horror, Classism, Gore, Grief, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dementia, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Stalking

leegray's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

At no point was this story boring. The narrator did a wonderful job bringing each of the characters to life. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Dementia, Gore, Suicide attempt, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Infidelity

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted tense 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? No

4.25

I really enjoyed this book and found it to have many more layers than I originally expected. It started off campy and hilarious, but turned more dark and serious. There is definitely both paranormal and more domestic-style horror elements and it felt like I read two different books between the first half and the second. I really appreciated the messaging about how no one listens to POC (specifically black people in this book), women, or children. And no one cares what happens to the black people in this book, many characters turn a blind eye and just say “oh well, that’s too bad” without giving it more thought. I feel like this book could have been a 5 star if it had been written by a black person and seen from Mrs. Greenie’s perspective. She was my favorite character!! I felt like the author did a pretty good job portraying Patricia in this book, but a lot of the other characters were more superficial. This book inspired a lot of unsettled feelings, both related to the paranormal and the relationships between the characters. It felt a little long and drawn out though, especially with Patricia getting back into the James Harris issue. I wish there had been more actual book club time throughout the book and that the friends could have been better friends to each other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Classism, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Dementia, Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual content, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Infidelity