Reviews tagging 'Grief'

One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny

5 reviews

booksthatburn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

ONE NIGHT IN HARTSWOOD is everything I hoped for, and more; a gay romance which mostly takes place during a several week journey by horse, as one man returns home and the other flees an oppressive household. I love romances that are built on communication, which is somewhat ironic, given that both Raff and Penn are keeping major parts of their identities secret, even if they talk about everything else. Normally, lying in relationships stresses me out, but the symmetry of the fact that both of them are keeping the same level of secret and don’t know if the other one is safe to trust with it helped it be less stressful for me. 

This is set up to have at least one sequel, though its particular story is self-contained. Rather than leave an obvious story hook open, it ends with the characters in new situations which grant the possibility of future events without demanding any particular follow up. 

I love Penn and Raff, I like them as individual characters and I enjoy how well they work together. They each have very different relationships with their families. Penn seems to be close with two of his several siblings, despite neither showing up for very long. His father is terrible, rather unambiguously playing the villain. Raff has close and mostly loving relationships with his sister and brother, and, despite their differences, they seem to understand each other fairly well. Not much is shown of Raff's relationship with his father, but what is there seems to be filled with respect and care.

Other things I love, in no particular order: how much of the time is spent just traveling and sleeping in the woods and dealing with inns; the wound care towards the end of the book; the way Penn obviously grows as a person; the more subtle ways that Raff starts to trust in other peoples' competence.

This was great, I want more, and I'm eager for the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Gore, Murder, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Confinement, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Classism, Blood, Death, War, and Medical trauma

Minor: Pregnancy, Child abuse, Vomit, and Death of parent

ezwolf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

2.75

Okay, so, by all rights I should have loved this book. It's queer, it's historical fiction, it's got angsty backstories. But I could not get in to this for the life of me. 

This is one of those cases where I think it's just not for me. I cannot exactly explain why this didn't grab me, the best I can say is that I found it boring. I wasn't drawn to either Penn or Raff and so it made it hard to be interested in either point of view. By the time the story got to plot points I would have been interested in (like Penn's scars) I was 50% of the way through and I was already just reading for the sake of finishing the story. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360 for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Animal death, Child abuse, and Classism

Moderate: Grief and Animal cruelty

Minor: Death, Xenophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

clairew97's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Abandonment, Sexual content, Alcohol, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Physical abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

wilybooklover's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced

4.0

Most of this, I adored. How tender and caring the romance was; how charming the two leads and their siblings were. The characters were well fleshed out with distinct personalities and I loved the delicious pining in the first half of the book. I thought the author dealt with the topic of abuse thoughtfully, especially in regards to the intimate scenes. Raff's family dynamics were great; I'd love to read more about Ash or Cecily in a sequel or two.
 
However, the pacing felt a bit off. There was virtually no plot for the first three quarters of the book (which I actually loved, as a big fan of 'no plot just vibes' books) and then a lot of action and drama crammed into a final act that was drawn out far too long. At times the dialogue felt a bit clunky and there were some jarring POV switches, which I'm attributing to this being a debut.

I also wish the early mediaeval setting had been explored a little more in depth. It was really just scenery for the most part and could have been set at any time pre-18th century given how little detail there is. There wasn't even a mention of the plague! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal death

Minor: Xenophobia, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Animal cruelty

llyfrauginger's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

I devoured this book. Beautifully written and so easy to get lost in. The romance is well paced and the characters are loveable; you can tell the author herself really loves the characters, which gives everything such warmth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Terminal illness, War, Chronic illness, and Confinement