Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager by D.N. Bryn

21 reviews

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

emotional funny sad 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Hate crime, Death of parent, Sexual content, Homophobia, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Ableism, and Self harm

20sidedbi's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Violence, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Abandonment, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Torture

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Grief, Self harm, Death of parent, and Sexual content

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

sir_melons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm, Homophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

alex_baker's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

The two characters are so dumb in the best of ways. Their relationship made me giggle like a lovestruck girlie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Murder, Stalking, Mental illness, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Confinement, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Biphobia, Gore, Body horror, Cursing, Alcohol, Genocide, Gun violence, Bullying, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Classism, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, and Stalking

booksthatburn's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Vincent has been sneaking into Wesley's house to bite him at night because his blood tastes so good he can't stay away. Wesley needs a vampire to hand in to a shady pharmaceutical company which experiments on vampires. Wesley wants the access to get information about his mother's disappearance after she signed up for one of the drug trials, but as he gets to know Vincent he starts seeing him as a person rather than just a means to an end. Vincent doesn't trust Wesley enough to confide that he's sleeping rough, hounded by someone who hates him for being a vampire and starts spreading that information to make his life impossible. The vampire hunters who work for the pharmaceutical company use classist tactics to make it impossible for vampires to live stable lives, then further take advantage of the precarity caused by being unhoused and unemployed to further the fear of vampires due to their diet. 

HOW TO BITE YOUR NEIGHBOR AND WIN A WAGER has a self-contained and very satisfying story, featuring a slow exploration of the boundaries between "liking someone who is a vampire" and having a vampire fetish. The romance builds slowly, held back for a while by mutual distrust and fascination which eventually turns into passion. I get very stressed out by stories where at least one of the characters in a relationship is lying, but this was handled in a way that meant I was able to finish the story without being too stressed to keep reading. I like a lot of things about how this was handled, from the worldbuilding sneaking in info about how vampires have existed for hundreds of years (or longer), to Wesley's long-distance best friend who can provide emotional support but can't solve the logistical problems. A lot of excellent storytelling decisions were involved, and I had a great time reading this.

I'm pretty sure one of the minor characters is the protagonist of the next book, but even if I'm wrong, there are some pretty big things that Vincent and Wesley weren't able to handle which could be addressed in future books. I'm looking forward to the next one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Confinement, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Torture, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical trauma, Homophobia, Excrement, and Medical content

mrshays's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Blood

Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Trafficking, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Emotional abuse

adrienanthony's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Stalking, Slavery, Abandonment, Blood, Violence, Death of parent, Torture, and Self harm

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.5

You can fit so many oppression metaphors inside a vampire, this time it was mostly about disabilities. Society doesn't consider that these people need accommodations like night shifts and late hours. Yeah, ok, suspension of disbelief and all that, but Wes should have died of blood loss or at least passed out and become anemic. You can't drain blood every few days, when you donate they make you wait like a month between sessions. It sucks how much went to waste too from them getting cockblocked, uh, I mean interrupted. I'm learning dumb romance characters are my shitty reality TV, I'm exasperated by they're logic and communication skills, but I just can't look away. Once it gets to the oh moment, I'm flipping the coffee table screaming TOUCHDOWN BABY!! I wanna know more about the mysterious model swordsmith.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cursing, Death, and Murder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Death of parent, Stalking, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Sexual content

manrod809's review against another edition

emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, and Medical content