Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

45 reviews

adearen's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Alcohol, Outing, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Biphobia, Classism, Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Death of parent

kappafrog's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this. I read it very quickly because I wanted to find out the answer to the mystery. However, the main character had me in two minds. There were heart-wrenching aspects to his story, and there were times when it made me really smile seeing how much he was starting to accept himself. However, I did not find it enjoyable to read a character arc that consisted of "cop realises how bad the stuff he lets other cops get away with was." I'm glad he realised and learned and found a way to move forward in life, but I was with Judy on this one. It was hard to sympathzie with him, especially after

he remembered letting cops get away with raping lesbians. Jesus, that was bad, and just immediately brushed past.

I'm a little mixed on how the end played out as well. It seemed like Alice was way too obvious a candidate from the start, so I had fun thinking about which of the others it was going to be. But then when it turned out to be Alice and she was just a serial murderer, well, it was a little meh for me. The boldness of a story where almost all the characters are queer so one of them gets to be the villain without being the token queer villain got diluted by it being the only straight suspect who did it after all. A fair subversion, given the long history of queer and queer-coded villains, but less thought-provoking and innovative than it seemed at first. Also, we really just glossed over how Margo covered for her mother's murder for YEARS, and how Pearl killed a private investigator at the end of the book!

I really loved the way the setting of the house was described, with all the flowers and trees and the sense of seclusion. My favourite character was definitely Pat. I would have been happy to see more of his life! I liked the doctor-turned-bartender a lot too. Usually I gravitate towards queer women in books, especially historical ones, but it was harder to connect with the women in this book. I think it was just obvious that the author was writing what he knew with the queer men so their feelings and personalities shone through a lot more strongly than those of the women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Outing, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Violence, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Animal death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Stalking, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Misogyny, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: War, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

barometz's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Biphobia, Hate crime, Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Death, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Police brutality

Moderate: Self harm, Confinement, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content and Blood

thatchickengirl23's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Biphobia, Child abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Outing, Homophobia, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Medical content

cwerber's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

I loved this book. A lavender noir, if you will. 

The main character, Andy Mills, gets kicked off the police force after being found in a raid. With no job, friends, or prospects, Andy spends his days drinking before contemplating throwing himself into the waters of San Francisco.  

That is until he is approached by Pearl to investigate the potential murder of her wife. 

There are lots of internalized homophobia and external homophobia. And violence because of said homophobia. And not like glossed over violence. You will feel each hit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Homophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death, and Classism

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

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

4.0

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen is a murder mystery set in the 1950s, where a queer, ex-inspector is hired to uncover the truth about the death of a soap tycoon. At the titular Lavender House, the Lamontaine family lives openly queer lives - but only within its walls. But Irene's death casts suspicion on everyone in the family. 

Rosen does an excellent job evoking the brutality of the 1950s and the importance of queer communities. Evander "Andy" Mills starts out isolated, ready to drink his life away after he's caught in a queer club and fired from his job. At Lavender House, he starts to feel a part of the community, and discovering who he is. I liked that this book touches on lots of different family experiences, and the toll hiding can take. 

On the murder mystery front, I enjoyed Andy as a detective. He's smart and tenacious, asking tough questions and drawing out secrets. With this being an isolated, closed-circle mystery, the murderer was rather obvious, somehow so much so that I initially discounted them, but it really couldn't have been anyone else. Still, there were interesting touches and some surprises. 

I'm very interested to read the next book and see what happens with Andy next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Blood, Homophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Violence, Hate crime, Murder, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Suicide, and Death

Minor: Murder and Religious bigotry

owliglot's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, Grief, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism

flightywren's review against another edition

emotional mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

2.75

 I love reading queer fiction and this book is no different. I won't say it was thrilling, but it was interesting. I liked the mystery and how it turned out. I loved getting to see a queer family carving out their own corner of the world despite the challenges they face.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

r_a_bell's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, and Hate crime

rachbake's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Murder, Homophobia, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail