Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

103 reviews

lucereads98's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

Struggling to decide between a 3.5 or 4 star for this one… think I’m going with 3.5.

Mattie and her husband William live at the top of a mountain, completely secluded for the rest of the world. William is controlling, physically abusive and just an all round evil human being.
I struggled with the writing in the beginning, when we were just with these two characters. It covered a very serious topic of abuse, but it almost felt silly and unbelievable. The book was fairly repetitive throughout, but I did really like the storyline as a whole. The second half of the book was definitely better and the pace picked up when we met the three strangers who were trying to find the monster on the mountain. Parts where we encountered the monster were more gruesome than I expected too which was a pleasant surprise.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death of parent and Miscarriage

antimony's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

2.75

most of the stars go to this being readable, because despite the fact that it wasn't all that good, i flew through it in under 3 hours. this is not a book that slogs along! it's an easy read, maybe entertaining depending on who you are. the writing style didn't agree with me (there was a lack of commas) but that is thoroughly subjective.

the problems lay elsewhere.

like mattie's amnesia, which i don't know. it felt so convenient and she remembered things so conveniently as well. does that make sense? i wish there were fewer flashbacks. and william had no motive and all the characters were one dimensional. like i wish there was some explanation for why william wanted to

kidnap mattie and kill her mom

? and also the reveal that he was

dealing heroin to make money????????

made so sense and didn't fit thematically. and the monster was so nebulous that it didn't ever feel scary because it just felt fake. like i think some authors can get away with never really describing their monsters because that works for cosmic horror. it does not work here. it's like a bear but like a billion times bigger? and is there one or is there two? and it has paws and its eyes glow. that's it.

and dear god the ending is SO unsatisfying. like COME ON. there's no resolution. i'm not saying we have to see every day of mattie adjusting to normal life again but i mean at least some more resolution than that. i like little epilogue chapters where it's like a month later and the main character explains how everything turned out after they killed the monster and passed out in the hospital or whatever. it's like a cliffhanger without a book 2 to follow up and explain all the rest :/

but then again i read this in two hours which was cause for a 5 star rating when i was 13 so do i even have a right to complain?

EDIT and HOW did i forget to mention.

that every time mattie asks about heather and what happened to her cp or jen or griffin are like ???? who's that????? and it's definitely implied that something was up with heather, like was she ever even real? and then that's NEVER resolved.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Animal death and Vomit

typedtruths's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Pedophilia, Murder, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Animal death, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Miscarriage and Death of parent

graveyardreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Rape, and Sexual assault

chloemurphy1820's review against another edition

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse

laramlr_05's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder

jadatrack's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Gore, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Rape, Blood, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Miscarriage

unicornsbookshelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

 The concept was great but unfortunately, most of it fell flat to me. The characters were very one-dimensional. Most of the creature horror happened off-screen and was very much sidelined for the husband. I understand what it was trying to do but sadly it didn't work for me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual violence, and Murder

narmeleth's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Rape

ladykatka's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow that was dark from start to finish. The abuse that is endured is graphic and quite realistic when describing how she feels and how she is beaten down. This reminded me of a few real-life news stories from years ago. However, that is not what I thought this story was going to be about. I have read several other books by the author so I was expecting it to be more about the cryptid, and the cryptid did not feature as heavily as I was lead to believe. In fact, the cryptid could have been taken out of the story all together and William could have been made to

kill the other characters

and the ending would have been the same. So that is why I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent