Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead

12 reviews

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.25

       You may not like this book if you are a fundamentalist Christian, as it deals with some of the hypocrisy of a fictional pastor, I'm sure modeled after some real ones. It also deals with an incorrectly labeled fictional Wiccan sect which was much more Satanist than true Wicca.
    That being said it was an excellent book, in my opinion, very dark, but a good romantic thriller. However, the end left me unsatisfied. I'd have liked an epilogue of what happened to the town after, and if the MCs made it through.
    I found the journey enjoyable, and it had some unpredictable twists. Overall, an excellent book.
 
 Narrator Rating:  4.25 stars
   Well the narrator did a good job, she didn't do enough tonal shifts for different characters' voices. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Gaslighting, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Grief, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Misogyny, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Racism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Body horror, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Vomit, Addiction, Abortion, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

The graphic animal cruelty & animal death were not too drawn out and at the start of the book. The other animal death wasn't on the page, just some parts with talk or one of the characters having a dead animal (snake and deer).

sstewart89's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Rape, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia

booksandbabble's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

teganbeesebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Classism, Child abuse, Death, Rape, Abortion, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

ariana3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I surprisingly liked this! There's nothing exciting about the story, but I couldn't put it down and read it quickly!

About the daughter of a reverend (religious fundamentalist that's abusive) and her friend (outcast, son of an alcoholic, known as Satan's son) and their relationship. Her friend, Everett, has killed people he wanted revenge on or to protect her, Ruth. She didn't know it was him so she feels like her adult childhood was a bit of a lie. Her father is a crazy religious preacher, was abusive, and ringleader of this town-wide drug circle which is why they have all their money. Ruth and Ever uncover it together and runaway together (now romantically involved...finally - it was teased the ENTIRE book), but do they survive?!?!?!?! The ending is ambiguous - I have hope that they did

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Death, Sexism, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Animal death, Cursing, and Mental illness

Minor: Bullying and Abortion

bukworm345's review against another edition

This book was TERRIBLE. The main character is insipid and obsessed with Twilight. The driving force of the book is secrets- not mystery, just secrets. Ruth and Everett could have figured a lot of shit out if they stopped keeping secrets and started working together. There’s drugs, religious fanaticism, satanic rituals, pedos, corruption, and on top of all that mess there’s Twilight obsessed Ruth starting to think Wverett is an actual vampire/monster. Skip it. It’s not even a so bad-so good scenario because the characters are so dumb.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Gun violence, Violence, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Toxic relationship

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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 was so excited to pick up this book because I have been become such a big fan of Ashley Winstead's.
"Midnight Is the Darkest Hour" follows Ruth Collier, a young woman who has spent her entire life trying to overcome her struggles as the preacher's daughter. In Ruth's small, southern town of Bottom Springs, there is only one thing the citizens fear more than God, and that is the Low Man. When a skull is found in the swamp, the town believes the Low Man is back, and their prime suspect is Ruth's best friend, Everett. Everett has always been an outsider, and never been accepted by the town because of his father, but the townspeople are all the more suspicious of him because of secrets from his past that he is trying to keep hidden.
I was really engaged with this story from the beginning. I am normally not a fan of stories set in the deep south, but this one really hooked me. I was fascinated by the hypocrisy of the townspeople because they seem to preach being good, God-fearing people, but then they are so quick to turn on someone who is different than themselves. Ruth's father is a tyrant and has used his position as a church leader to break Ruth into submission for her entire life. Ruth has spent her adult years trying to discern who she is outside of church, and if she is a good person. This book exemplifies religious trauma.
I really enjoyed and appreciated Ruth's and Everett's friendship. They were both such misfits, and I think they really complement each other well. Through all of their hardships, they have remained close, and I really loved seeing their story arch.
One of my few gripes with this story is the reference to "Twilight". When Ruth is young, she steals and hides a copy of "Twilight" from the library. She finds such comfort in the story and the characters, and she dreams of having a romance like the one depicted between Bella and Edward. I think this was a nice touch, and really helps to highlight this idea that teenaged girls are often ridiculed for their "immature" interests. People are often so quick to dismiss things, like an interest in "Twilight" as dumb, because a teenaged girl loves it. My critique is the other used this as a plot point continually, and at one point a character tells Ruth that life can be like "Twilight", and I laughed out loud. Perhaps that was part of the point the author was trying to make, but it completely took me out of the story.
The greater mystery of what was going on, and who the Low Man really was, was captivating, and I did not see it coming. I felt like the mystery had layers, and I really enjoyed seeing all of the reveals come through.
This is probably my least favorite of Ashley Winstead's thrillers, but I still very much enjoyed it, and I would recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death of parent, Death, Torture, Confinement, Child abuse, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Blood, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexual content

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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 Queen strikes again! Honestly, I was pretty nervous about this book. I had read this author's other two thrillers and enjoyed both of them. One of them was even a five-star, however, as I was reading this the writing felt different (I was reading as an audio read along with the physical copy in hand and the voice actor was Southern; after I got adjusted the southern accent just added to the atmosphere, I recommend the audio of this book if you're interested). From what I noticed it seems that Ashely changes her writing to match how her character would view their circumstances so it really puts you in their head (but this is just an assumption; I could just be reading into things). But anyway I'm not gonna lie it took me a while to get into this book (not too long though, probably around the 25% mark), but once I was in it. I was IN IT! It was soooo good! I was eating it up and was loving every minute of it. I always hear people talk about getting "immersed into a world" when they read and I had trouble relating because I don't think I've ever felt that, but with THIS book as soon as I started reading it with each sitting it felt like I was in their world every time. There weren't that many descriptions in this book, however, I feel like the dialogue and the course of events that took place in this book really set up the atmosphere and the tone of this book. I applaud Ms. Winstead because that's not an easy task to convey the overall setting of your book through dialogue. I really enjoyed my reading experience with this book and most importantly I enjoyed Everett. He's highkey a psychopath, but I loved him.  He's become one of my favorite thriller book boyfriends (I don't condone his actions at all; he is a fictional character and I enjoyed reading about him and the way he was towards Ruth, that's all).  I loved Ruth and Everett. They're literally soulmates. I also enjoyed Ruth's journey through self-discovery and finding her voice (however radical that it was😅). Now I understand that this is one of those books where you either like it or you hate it and I could completely get someone giving this book 2 stars, but I don't know I really enjoyed it! It actually reminds me of another book "The History of Wild Places" by Shea Ernshaw, they both contain the same vibes, but I love this one more! Can't wait to read more Ashley Winstead books. She's becoming an auto-read auhtour for me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Torture, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Murder, Child abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Bullying, Blood, Cursing, and Drug use

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Classism, Grief, Alcoholism, Animal death, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Abortion, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Mental illness, and Animal cruelty

cuddlygryphon's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Rape, Sexual content, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, and Death of parent

cc_shelflove's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Overall, this was just okay... but that last chapter was WHOOOAAA! If you liked All the Sinners Bleed, you will probably like this book, too. Personally, I really hate books with religion as a central theme. I'm not sure why I keep trying to read them. 😅

Ruth and Ever became friends on a dark night in the swamp. The reader discovers early on that Ruth killed someone (albeit in self defense) and Ever helped her hide the body. Six years later, she's dating a cop. Okay, girl! Ruth and Ever's system of checks and balances is a little screwed up. Do two wrongs make a right?

I was not very in love with this book. At times, I felt I was reading it to read it. I really enjoyed the relationship between these two individuals, however. Those who appreciate town politics and religious opinions will like it more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug use