Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede

31 reviews

josie_reads_books's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Torture, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

What a deeply disturbing and fantastic book.

Have was such an unhinged character but I somehow rooted for her and was utterly devastated by the ending.

There was a humorous yet strange scene that was definitely an ode to Patrick Batemen watching himself having sex.

This was such a captivating story. It was like a train wreck - I just couldn't look away. Every time I put the book down, it was all I could think about.

It had me physically cringing in disgust and shouting out in disturbance and I loved every moment of it.

This is going to stick with me for a very long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Torture

bookishchaos's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was very different from other horror novels I've read. Instead of the book starting with crazyness, we watch our main character slowly desend into madness. Just when you think "she can't get any worse." She does lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Minor: Toxic relationship

fairygodfish's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Hmm. Could have done without

the sexual assault. It didn’t add anything to the experience and kind of ruined the tone

. Other than that I honestly quite enjoyed it, think the author has a few views on womanhood I don’t quite agree with but would love to talk to them about. Would also love a Tallulah Fly-centric book. 

At the end of the day it’s extreme horror and some of it is horror is for the sake of being shocking. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for me,

aside from, once again, the sexual assault

. Sometimes the camp tone feels forced but sometimes it’s kind of awesome. I definitely appreciate the character of Maeve Fly and am glad she’s out in the world. Contained in these pages. Please god, nobody let Maeve Fly out in the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Alcohol, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Torture, Violence, and Rape

Moderate: Stalking, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion

fadeddpages's review

dark sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Drug use, Cursing, and Toxic friendship

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

Points off for the inclusion of (potentially?) Johnny Depp. No thanks

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Terminal illness, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, and Fatphobia

sarah984's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

I picked this up because of the cool looking cover, after seeing it recommended as "feminist body horror" on Likewise. So if you are like me I will save you some time: it's not feminist or body horror. The cover is cool though.

The main character is a woman but she hates and/or belittles all other women (except her grandmother, who is a complete non-entity in this story) and thinks she's unique as a woman due to her misanthropy. The book makes a big deal about it being sexist that stories require women to have trauma to be villains when men can just do what they want, but then gives Maeve villain trauma. The romance is all "oh he was so much bigger than me" straight people crap.

Several quotes and entire scenes are lifted whole cloth from American Psycho but nothing interesting is done with that at all.

I really have to wonder who this book was for. I feel like it was somehow simultaneously too much and too tame, like it's not extreme horror because pretty much everything "extreme" happens off screen, but too much "extreme" content is implied for this to appeal to normies. Baffling book.

Some of the Halloween music trivia was interesting, so 2 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Medical content, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Classism, Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Grief, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Vomit, Drug use, Stalking, Physical abuse, Animal death, and Racism

wyabook234's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Gore, and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Misogyny

dizzzybrook's review

dark fast-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Sexual assault

squids_can_read's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Please look up content/trigger warnings.

Maeve Fly works as a princess at a theme park. She loves her life as it is but when her grandmother gets sick and her best friend gets a big break in her acting career. Now Maeve Fly's life is crumbling around her. 

How can a book this disturbing make me want to sob like a little baby? I think that a very specific set of people will really enjoy this book and I think that most people will not. The main character is not a good person, she does things and says things that are fundamentally wrong. But I honestly really enjoyed that. It's gross and it's disgusting but it discusses a lot about codependent relationships, finding your true self, and having someone know you truly. Overall, I thought that the characters were really interesting and the plot was super intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Excrement, Gore, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, Torture, and Violence