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Reviews tagging 'Murder'
The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall
32 reviews
readswithcat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, Cancer, and Murder
Minor: Sexual assault
brandetl27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
As someone who LOVES cozy, witchy books, this just did not do it for me. The way this was marketed felt extremely inaccurate. Do not serve this to me as a “Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic” & then let me down. Whoever marketed this like that has clearly never seen either of those. If you’re gonna throw those big names around, you better at least attempt to live up to it.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Sexual assault and Murder
laura_berger's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Death and Mental illness
Minor: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Murder
etl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
The only reason I finished this book is because I became absolutely obsessed with the frankly absurd similes and metaphors. The writing is chock full of some truly bizarre writing but by chapter two I started highlighting the comparisons to food (specifically sweet treats) just in case the reader forgot that the main character was a baker. My favorites are below for your reading pleasure:
- "the tenuous peace they'd formed in the kitchen cracked like creme brulee"
- "shaking her momentary mirth off like powdered sugar"
- "excitement brushed along her skin like confectioners' sugar"
- "gingersnap laugh"
- "The air turned sweet like sparkle-dusted rainbow cotton candy"
and my number one, the line I will be thinking about for the rest of my life:
- "hugs were passed around like a tray of chocolate truffles, sweet and decadent until too much made you sad for no reason" - huh. huh?I have never ever been sad due to too many chocolate truffles OR too many hugs. sick? yes. touched out? yes. sad...? am I missing something? do chocolates and hugs make people sad?
Overall I counted 41 instances of food-related symbolism, and this doesn't include anything from chapter one or descriptive language like "butter-soft" or "caramel-colored" because at least those descriptions make sense.
I'm sure this book is for someone. That someone is not me.
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Mental illness, Cancer, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Pregnancy and Infertility
ggreen1379's review against another edition
1.5
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Murder
rromero721's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Minor: Mental illness, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Cancer, Grief, Domestic abuse, Cursing, and Alcohol
sarinaslibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I really really wanted to enjoy this book, it's marketing on TikTok was crazy and I was super excited when I got approved to read a proof. Sadly it didn't hit right for me.
I didn't find myself liking any of the characters, the grandmother was a bit mean to me, the FMC was a bit of a pushover & people pleaser, also a bit dumb and annoying. The rest of the characters were also quite annoying as well, the only one I really liked was Seth, the FMC brother who went away and came back after a couple of years.
The FMC just didn't sit right for me, especially when she came to find that the dog she found and took in was her ex's and refused to give it back to him because at first she's petty, then she wanted a part of him with her when all the drama was going on. He kept asking for it back and she kept refusing, and as a dog owner myself it really made me angry.
Seth's story was just more interesting to me because there was a bit of mystery and he didn't want magic because it was hurting him and making him depressed, but in the end of the book the FMC gives up her magic so he can keep his - why not have Seth give up the magic he doesn't want to his sister that does want it?? Everytime he said he didn't want magic his family (even the FMC) just dismissed his feelings and saying that he can't run away from it. That's not a good message.
There's a strong message of family in this book that doesn't hit right, there's a line basically saying that family will hurt you but you have to forgive and love them in the end because that's what family is all about - I'm sorry but no. Families can hurt you and you have every right to cut them out and keep it that way, some things families do are unforgivable and it remains that way. It left a bad taste in my mouth for personal reasons and I almost gave up the book around this time, but I kept going.
The romance in this wasn't good either, FMC's ex comes back into the town (the one she refuses to give the dog back too), turns out he's engaged which he tried to tell her (which by the way comes not far from the end of the book) but she kept dismissing him, turns out the woman he's engaged to fakes her pregnancy - all of this was really unnecessary.
It wasn't a cosy witchy book at all, all the magic was food and drinks and it contained some triggers that I didn't expect. There's also a lot of cheesy paragraphs that didn't need to be there - oh and the grandmother forcing the FMC to attend church also didn't sit well with me.
Overall I was disappointed in this book, I really love cosy witchy books but this one just didn't hit the mark.
Graphic: Cancer and Death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting
Minor: Murder
callmeamelia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Murder
wornpagesandendlesscoffey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Murder
paperbackportals's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
3.0
Moderate: Murder and Mental illness
Minor: Pregnancy