Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

72 reviews

redvelvetpenguins's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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: Alcoholism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

alicroz34's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

Attacking the haunted house genre from the perspective of an overly agreeable mom who just puts up with most of it is kind of hilarious. 

I devoured this in two days. 

I did notice 100% of adult men who died in the house did not get to come back as ghosts and did not get to have their injuries reversed at the end. I find that very interesting, but I did want an acknowledgement of that somewhere? Like we're literally watching all the children & adult women who died in the house heal & leave (if they want to) and then they just sit on the porch like... so Hal is dead. I'm down with it but I was like... is no one else seeing a pattern here hi hello.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

judassilver's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Mental illness, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury

lady_bountiful's review

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

aparker89's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

zeroshi's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I feel like this book hits different for victims of ab*se. This isn’t simply a haunted house book and while that part is done amazingly this is a commentary on breaking cyclical toxic patterns. Also the fact this is a debut novel??? Amazingly well done by the voice actor as well. Absolutely fell in love with the main character and her troop of pranksters. The daughter was a LITTLE IRRITATING at forst but once you realize what the book is REALLY saying you see the struggle she has with seeing her father in herself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Alcohol

tabookish's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Dementia

dev921's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

arkwen452's review

challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

The September House will pull readers into a mysterious, quirky narrative that's strongly driven by dark humor, in my opinion, based on the situation with Margaret in her house. 

It's told in first person and Margaret's nonchalant approach and perspective for her time in this odd, creepy and clearly haunted house filled with "pranksters" as she likes to call them is clearly not of a person who scares easily. Readers get to know Margret and learn about a lot of the hard times she's endured. But we also learn about the previous souls who lived there. And as described through her eyes, the "pranksters" actually really aren't all that bad. 

And the manor of which the author humanizes them led me to believe the intention of the book was meant to be on the dark humor more than horror. 

I think that the pacing of the book is done very well, and each chapter ties into Margaret, and Hal's marriage and their relationship with the new house really came together well. Made it an enjoyable read. 

A lot of the time in each chapter I  I found myself questioning Margaret's sanity and her control over reality. She said that Hal also noticed things in the house BUT since the POV is in first person I can't fully trust her interpretation of everything; there were also moments when it felt like the events of the house with the pranksters of the house that, as Margret calls them, made everything seem like it was actually happening. 

Like the actions/events were concrete. Therefore the author will keep the readers questioning until the very end of the book whether it is real or the September house is just a figment of Margaret's imagination. 

I don't think the horror element really kicks in until the last fourth of the book and I think that , there are more creepy elements that happen in the book overall. Especially with the use of the phrases "he's down there" in reference to Master Vale and how Margaret saw notions of that outside of the house.

Again, with it being in first person, readers cannot trust if what Margret's seeing is actually reality or just figment of her imagination. Without giving spoilers, I will say that I was very pleased with the way the ending is tied up because , it got to a point in the narrative where the word "crazy" was being tossed around and signs were pointing to Margret being commItted. I didn't like the angle of it being a psychosis issue rather than something factual. Not only because this is a red flag trope for me and it is never really done well when it comes to individual having some sort of psychosis leading to them having erratic behavior. 

But

also due to the fact that we learn a lot of what Margaret went through with her relationship with Hal and The abuse, and his alcoholism. In the beginning, I got the interpretation that how and Catherine did not have a connection because he didn't like the fact that she was a lesbian but as we continue through the book more and more details of the past is revealed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

nerdydeathwitch's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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

4.5

I loved this book and while I guessed some of the twists, it was really about the psychological journey of the main character who finds herself in a very haunted house, and in that regard, it really pays off. The book opens with a lot of dark humor, but gets more serious as it progresses and you learn more about the back story of the home owner and the ghostly inhabitants. Towards the end the pace picks up as does the level of body horror. The final quarter is pretty gruesome in a way that will be very satisfying for people who appreciate visceral horror. The writing itself is great, incredibly descriptive and on point for the reality of what it takes to survive abuse as an ongoing lived experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Abandonment

This is a horror novel so there should be no surprise that it contains lots of blood and murdered ghosts. But FYI, the writing is very descriptive. You will be told about wounds and the experience of being murdered in graphic detail.

If you have a background with DV, CPTSD, or are a child of alcoholics, this book could be both validating and triggering so just know what you're getting into. The family dynamics are incredibly accurate and the MC's self identity and worldview is shaped by abuse.