Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Cackle

As I was reading this book, I thought I would describe it as "unhinged." It starts out sane enough with a main character who feels like a person. A person who is in a bad place emotionally, but still a person you can relate to. As she is thrust into more bizarre situations and interactions, it is harder to understand why she does what she does. In some instances she's obtusely passive and ignores what should not be ignored. In others she's overly confrontational and aggressive. I started to lose my sympathy and understanding of her and any of the other characters and never really got it back. The side characters and Sophie never feel completely fleshed out. Sophie is so performative and mysterious you never get closure on what she's really like underneath it all. I did like the ending, and I flew through the book, it was easy to read and kept me engaged even if a lot of the time I was just asking myself "wtf?"

Content Warnings

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.5

I received this as an eARC from NetGalley but all thoughts are my owns.

This is such a cozy little horror novel. It doesn't lean into the horror as much as I think it could have but it was a really great read. It's definitely the book is give people if someone asked about my taste in literature.

Also as someone who is afraid of spiders, this book did a great job at endearing them to me which is quite a feat.

<Spoiler> I do feel that maybe Sophie was forcing her world view on Annie a bit much but then I think most of the conflict in the book wouldn't have happened so probably necessary in this case. </Spoiler>

I do feel like Annie's dependency on alcohol probably could have done with a bit more serious discussion.

Overall great read though. Very much enjoyed it.

Content Warnings

cinthiaurora's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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

I picked this up because I wanted something spooky, but still lighthearted and easy to read, and the good news was that this delivered. While Rachel Harrison’s writing WAS easy to read though, I found her writing flowed really well and was very introspective. Premise of the book sounds like a pitch for a sitcom, which for me is a plus. If it WAS a sitcom I would watch 10 seasons of it. Good read if you know what to expect!

I deducted .5 because Annie and Sophie never kissed. And another .5 because at a certain point it was just unbelievable to me that Annie moves to a pretty new town where she befriends a LITERAL WITCH who cooks for her and makes her dresses and shows her her own magic powers AND has a cute little spider side-kick….and she’s STILL thinking about her loser ex-boyfriend? She’s literally insane. Also I really thought for a minute there that all the character development we did manage to get from her would be undone when she decided to see Sam. I literally had zero faith in her. None whatsoever. So a pleasant surprise she turned it around in the end. Anyways, Annie and Sophie should have kissed. I don’t care if Sophie was a little toxic. I support women’s wrongs. Otherwise pretty solid read.

Content Warnings

joyfleming's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense 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

3.75

My mind is going back and forth between 3.5 to 4 stars for this one. Annie is nearly thirty and she is moving to upstate NY after her and her longtime boyfriend break up. Annie doesn’t have a lot of confidence in herself and she somehow catches the attention of Rowan’s(her new town) one and only Sophie - a woman who seems to have a controversial role in the area. This book went beyond a simple lonely woman meets a witch who lives in the middle of the woods. It sparks a conversation about being comfortable with who you are and not necessarily needing a partner to be happy. Unfortunately, about the 60/70 percent of the book is where I got a little confused, especially when it came to Annie’s sudden realization. I wanted more of an explanation than just an assumption based on a drink. However, I will say, this is what I wish The Ex Hex could have been but didn’t quite meet expectations.

Content Warnings

lucybbookstuff's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful mysterious reflective 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

2.5

The last few chapters redeemed the rest of the book, but that doesn't make me less annoyed that I still had to read the whole thing lol. (Not sure I'm capable of DNF-ing, plus it was a fast enough read that I could get through it.)

I think this book would be a lot better as a novella. The middle 100 pages or so were boring af and unnecessary. The whole story and moral could have been told a lot more quickly and effectively.

That said, I did appreciate the moral of self-actualization and learning to love yourself outside of relationships, because I've been through that whole process myself and know how liberating it can be.

However, I didn't really like the characters very much. Annie's sad sack-ness, however realistic, got very old very fast. And I found Sophie fucking creepy and controlling and manipulative the entire time. Again, all of this was only resolved at the very end.

Gotta say, I also don't love the violent female revenge trope. No thanks.

I do also appreciate the ace representation, however, I definitely think it could have been accomplished without being so queer-baity. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So. Not my least favorite book but definitely not my cup of tea. A good quick Halloween read though! 🕷

Content Warnings

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional 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

4.5

Content Warnings

More...