Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos

5 reviews

jstilts's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-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 first part in a series, this book nevertheless is just about satisfying for the emotional/confidence journey it takes the lead upon (albeit slightly rushed at the end but I carries through well enough in book 2). I won't recap the plot as that would remove the tension, but this book is basically about an arranged marriage between two countries - but our lead character has been kept in the dark about how much danger this marriage will expose her to, to the point where she has to spend half the book in disguise amongst those who wish her dead. It's an interesting mix of fantasy and what could have been a period drama (almost a Jane Austen romance but one gone deliciously wrong). It probably wouldn't have been enough to be one or the other, but both genres combined lift this into a compelling tale of intrigue as she tries to survive the world she has been thrust into, and rise above the limited role she is being forced to play.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Classism, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Racism, and Bullying

Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, Drug use, Abandonment, Alcohol, Murder, Violence, and Miscarriage

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Abortion, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Murder, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Genocide, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit

lokes's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

1.25

This was… well, is was something. 
The worldbuilding was a bit sloppy, but interesting, but plot and characters? Icky. Like, really bad. 

Not only did it have tropes such as forced marriage and hints of pedophilia (as soon as the guy was always called a “man with his big hands; like a father; etc” and the woman described as “girl with small hands; being generally very young and clueless and in need of constant help”) I had a bad feeling and boy wasn’t I wrong. 

I don’t know why so many people like a book which is filled with sexism, weird stereotypes, classism, racism and basically everything you don’t want to read about when it is normalized (or rather being glorified, because you just couldn’t catch a break when reading. It just kept coming)

I do feel like I need to apologize to the person I am now that I read this book because it wasn’t pleasant and I feel like I need to unlearn all of the very harmful stuff I just read about. 

The writing style’s not bad though, I could have liked it without the weird content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Incest, Miscarriage, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Child abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, and Confinement

annikareads_'s review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Death, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Torture

harmony822's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Violence