Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Sun Down Motel

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

48 reviews

cryptogay's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

I really enjoyed reading this book. Its a fun ghost story/mystery that focuses on women, and that's right up my alley.
However. Having now read two books by St. James, she really doesn't like lesbians. In both this book and The Broken Girls, the protagonists include women who express a lack of interest in men, and in both, St. James goes out of her way to tell us "Don't worry, they're not lesbians!", and she does so in a way that is tinged with disgust. This is not an uncommon attitude when straight women write about close relationships between women, but it still sucks. It was minor enough in this not to take away from most of my enjoyment of the book, but I really don't feel like giving it a higher rating as a result.

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wordwilderness's review

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dark mysterious 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

4.0

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in_love_with_bookish's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Atmospheric, heartbreaking, and creepy, The Sun Down Motel is the story of two women, an aunt, and her niece, and their journey to reveal the dangerous secrets of a small town called Fell and Its continuous violence against women.

The person who could be truly alone, in the company of no one but oneself and one’s own thoughts—that person was stronger than anyone else. More ready. More prepared.

I really don’t want to reveal any details about the plot, I think it’s way better to experience the story as it unfolds without prior information. But I’d say that it's a story told with two different timelines, It has elements of horror, mystery, and drama and It’s all linked together by a string of murders never been solved.

This is my second book by Simone St. James and I really click with this author style so much. The way she tells her stories is very captivating and engaging to me and I find myself really immersed in her stories right from the start.

I think it’s instructive to be awake in the middle of the night every once in a while. To really see what you’re missing while you’re usually sleeping.

The atmosphere is so great in this book; I felt the hair on my arms rising so many times like I was living the story from the inside. I love how the author incorporates the setting as a very alluring yet frightening character in the book and how strong the sense of the place was. The sun down Motel is a living breathing entity that keeps on injecting the story with tension and dread.

I really enjoyed the mystery and how it was revealed to us bit by bit, piece by piece. The two timelines worked perfectly together and I find the symmetry and parallels between what happened in the past and the present really telling and symbolic. The book talks about violence against women and how women have always lived with fear and dread in that small town and seeing the same things happening again reinforces the idea that women are always threatened by and subjected to violence no matter when.

How it was always girls who ended up stripped and dead like roadkill. How it didn’t matter how afraid or how careful you were—it could always be you.

The main characters are people that you can’t help but root for even when they make great mistakes. Even though their motivations are different, they both end up doing the same things, living through the same doubts and fears and searching for the same truth.

I really appreciated the different themes portrayed in this book but I equally enjoyed the mystery/horror elements. There were so many twists that I didn’t see coming. I miss the feeling when I’m taken completely by surprise. And I absolutely love the writing style, the interaction between the characters, the sense of wrongness and dread, the emotions that the characters feel as they start to lose control as they look for answers to their questions.

Some of us like the dark. It's what we know

I really think this author has a lot to offer for this genre. Her books are a great mix of a lot of elements that will keep you invested, engaged, and guessing. I definitely recommend this book.

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defcon's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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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sgm926's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I bought this book because I have read and enjoyed a book from Simone St. James in the past. I really enjoyed this one. I loved how the story went back and forth between the two narrators but how they were living in such parallels. I also liked how strong both of the girls were, in different ways. They weren't too perfect or too flawed and I appreciate that. I like that there was closure for everyone by the end of the book and how the author chose to wrap things up. I predicted some things but was also surprised by others. I wish we could have seen more of Heather and Nick and learned a little more about them, especially Heather. Otherwise, I have no complaints.

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ruruxxi's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was an interesting read. A mystery-thriller with a twinge of horror, The Sun Down Motel executes its story in dual perspectives: one set in the past and one set in the present. What's mind-boggling is the present perspective is just basically retracing the steps of the one set in the past, giving you a sense of déjà vu in a bad way: you're basically reading the same events twice. However despite some head scratching narrative choices and an incredibly slow start, The Sun Down Motel's narrative bones are compelling and it remains an edge-of-your-seat read, with something to say.

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mmqin's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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sandyd's review

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emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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