Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Black Sheep

If you’re in the mood for a creepy or Halloween-ish rom-com, sure, this might be up your ally. This first half of this book was utterly unbearable for me with an annoying pick-me MC and detail-inconsistencies, but it must have done something right because I kept reading. It would be a great read for a drinking game – take a shot every time the author mentions a pentagram. It screams trying too hard.

This book is for the Starbucks, Stanley-cup loving girl to read around Halloween (and I have nothing against that, I promise, it’s just not me).

It was entertaining enough to finish, though, but I couldn’t really tell you why. My list of offenses are:

1. An MC who thinks she’s edgy and “different” but is really just sad and flat – she has a right to be so mad at the world, but I felt the trauma or big reveal wasn’t well-written enough for it to feel authentic

2. An unironic use of the word “chuegy”. I hate it. Edgy girls do not use the word “chuegy” unironically.

3. MC forgets to pack a dress and finds one in the closet but three pages later magically has a red dress she specifically picked out for the event

4. Cliché after cliché about the night or nature speaking to the MC when the MC has absolutely no connection or value placed in nature – talking to the movie memorabilia made much more sense and felt more authentic

5. Cliché after cliché about ex-boyfriends (who is a shitty groom to be)

6. Plot twists that were so easy to predict

7. Signs and symbols mentioned in the first few chapters, forgotten about entirely until it’s convenient (pepper them in the middle more, please)

8. An extremely flat and cliché depiction of Satan – I guess this is a personal annoyance since I know a little about the occult and angel/demon religious lore…

9. The MC has like no arc. Completely unscathed and unchanged.

Content Warnings

caseythereader's review against another edition

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dark funny tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

flaminggecko's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

flash_n_trash's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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mysterious 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

0.25

this is one of the worst books i’ve read this year, and just in general. the plot is incredibly misleading. the very early “twist” should’ve been mentioned in the synopsis, if it was i never would’ve read this. i think books should 100% mention if there are supernatural aspects, because that is a huge part of the book and something i don’t usually enjoy. the characters were flat and none of them were tolerable. the major plot twist is incredibly silly and just juvenile to me. overall, i don’t think this was written well at all and it was just silly, and not in a good way.

Content Warnings

xoxogossiplaur's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Very interesting read. Different from what I usually read but still enjoyed it even though there were some disturbing parts. The story idea felt unique (to me) and was well executed. Translated pretty well to audio book format, which is how I read it.

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