Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Diavola

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne

81 reviews

ashlesschaps7's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional funny 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

Content Warnings

jo_stanford's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Creepy! Main character is super flawed but I love her. I washed to slap everyone in her family other than the nieces.

Content Warnings

pikkulapsii's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

raquelborges's review against another edition

3.5

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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: Complicated

This is slow burn horror done right. I couldn’t stop thinking about this story whenever I set the book down. The pacing worked really well for the slow building of suspense, and it ticked enough trope boxes without over-saturating the story. I appreciated the way many questions had messy answers and how strong Anna was for facing the villa for or maybe in spite of her family.

In hindsight, I could see Anna being neurodivergent to a neurotypical family. She can’t understand them and they can’t her, but she’s an easy scapegoat cause she smiles and bears it.

Is it really the villa she’s trying to escape from?

Content Warnings

ameliasbooks's review against another edition

4.25

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Not the usual horror story, although it covers everything you expect from a good ghost story. But it is also a story about a very dysfunctional family and the kind of ghosts you carry with you, if you are considered to be the 'black sheep' amongst an awful bunch of people.

It took me a while to get into the second part of the book, after the story takes an unexpected turn. Although it was still interesting, for me it was the weaker part of the novel and made the end more forseeable, than I was hoping for it to be, after the first part.

Still an enjoyable, entertaining, well written story, which let me easily overlook some small plot holes and less convincing situations in some parts, because I had enough fun reading it overall.

Content Warnings

thegayestghost's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

_thugbug_'s review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

3.8 (cause I was expect a horror but got a drama with horror elements)

I found myself rooting for Anna, it feels like the haunted nature of the book is a direct reflection on the main character. - I honestly didn’t get that till the last 20% of the book which I thought was super neat.

I felt for Anna, being stuck with these ppl as family would drive anyone to be an emotional unavailable person. If you are told you are the problem your whole life it does something to you.

This book will not be for everyone, especially people that are very close to their families.

Content Warnings

shaun_dh's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

2⭐️ The plot had such promise—family drama and haunted houses? Hell yeah, I’m in. It was the execution that fell flat for me

The pacing was the most glaring problem. It felt way off. By the second page, we’re told the house is creepy. There’s no build up, unsettled feelings, or feeling of dread that I think makes a great horror book. It reads fast in some places and incredibly slow in others. The ending (which I actually loved) felt rushed

and I wish we had been told what all happened to her family. There’s just one throw away sentence that their lives were all messy. I know Anna doesn’t know, but bc it’s written in third-person, Thorne could have told us

I also felt like Thorne wrote like, “and this thing was super creepy” rather than just letting the reader feel creeped out. Like, don’t TELL me it’s creepy, SHOW me it’s creepy through ~*fEeLiNgS*~. It reads like she isn’t confident in her ability to set the tone…or maybe she is just bad at that, I haven’t read anything else by her to compare

I don’t have this much family drama (even though I am for sure the black sheep) so maybe I’m just lucky that I don’t get it, but the animosity Anna’s family felt towards her felt very unrealistic. Like, they unnecessarily blamed things on her that anyone with a clear head could see were in no way her fault…?

And the brother’s boyfriend was VERY unnecessarily aggressive towards her. For what?

Is this really a thing that happens in families? I think it was an attempt to add to the drama, but it all just felt ridiculous

This is just a stylistic preference, not a fault of Thorne’s writing, but I don’t think I like books written in third person

I also found it very unnecessary for her to fuck La Dama Bianca. Or, at the very least, write the ghost sex better…?

Overall, it wasn’t BAD—I don’t regret reading it, but I had very high hopes for this and I am left disappointed

Content Warnings

robin_reads's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

If you liked The Haunting of Hill House (the show not the book) then you’ll like this.
Unexpected, just the right amount of horror and mystery that keeps you guessing.
I liked the ending especially.

The sassiness of the FMC, the learning of Italian black magic and facing this ancient spirit

Content Warnings

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