Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

72 reviews

lindseyrenee's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Gore, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Body horror, Animal death, Murder, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Suicide, Vomit, and Self harm

jackierobinson's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Dementia and Fire/Fire injury

mamawantsbooks's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

One sentence review: A wonderful haunted house story that shows us ghosts aren’t always the dead entities we think them as and the horrors can be in the every day lives we live. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Medical trauma, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Child death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Animal death, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Mental illness, and Vomit

curiouslykatt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

“There are rules to these things. Everything is survivable, even this.”

The house on Hawthorn Street is so much more than just a house. Margaret and Hal have found their perfect house. It’s gorgeous. It’s Victorian. It’s cheap. What could be the problem? Surely they were just in the right place right time. 

Everything changes in September. Every September, the hauntings start. 

The walls bleed. The ghosts roam the halls. The animals behave erratically. The screaming that is everywhere and nowhere lasts all night. You never enter the basement. Every September. All through September. 

Margaret has learned the rules to survive Septembers, and these all seem like minor inconvenience for the home of her dreams. Margaret has learned to live with rules her whole life. Margaret can survive anything. 

Everything changes one September when her husband Hal goes missing and her adult daughter Katherine comes home to help find him. 

The September House is told through a nonlinear storyline jumping between the current September and the Septembers of the past. This story is so much more than just a haunted house. This is a complex well developed story around trauma responses, living through cycles of abuse, and the generational impacts of violence. Carissa does use dry humour sprinkled throughout to add so levity to the story. I will say it did feel about 50 pages too long but ultimately I will still highly recommend this read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal death and Body horror

Minor: Vomit

shaunashares's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Cannibalism, Vomit, Murder, and Mental illness

ivy123's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Vomit, Violence, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Dementia

greenealthea7's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Torture, Gore, Murder, Child abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Domestic abuse

kbergsten's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, and Mental illness

rivercat0338's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.25

This was a roller coaster ride. Starts out funny but gets very dark very fast--while still maintaining Margaret's wry, matter-of-fact tone--and I honestly had no idea where it was going. The ending is bonkers. Content warnings for

alcoholism and domestic abuse

, but they were handled well; the author has a PhD in psychology so it rang true and added the element of doubt that made the story much more interesting and compelling. One of my favorite horror reads of the year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal death, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Mental illness, and Torture

samburkhouse's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cannibalism, Confinement, and Self harm