Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

75 reviews

offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Stalking, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Child death, Sexual violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

mermay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

I feel like my whole review is going to be a spoiler, so I'll hide it a lot of it just in case. I never write reviews, this was a message to my best friend so this might be rough, but wow. Bruh. Okay. Bruh. This book. This book is amazing, it really is. Well-written, unpredictable, and engaging enough that I just spent the last 5 and a half hours reading it straight through without pause (until 3:30am). HOWEVER. It is very very dark.

It is also incredibly primally evocative creating fear, tension, and disgust by way of bodily fluids (vomiting, mildew, infestations of bugs, a few mentions of urine, and a lot of talk about rot and decay of death and dead things). It really painted a vivid picture in my mind while I was reading, it just didn't evoke pleasant things. I also don't know if I'd classify it with having a happy ending. I'm pleased with the way things turned out. Like I said, it's well crafted and this author did a really good job with character and plot development. I don't think there will be a sequel because it doesn't need one. I would rec solely based on the fact that it is a GREAT book, but you should know the rest of this stuff too before reading. Also, due to magical abilities that play a major role in the plot, non-con is a pretty strong theme throughout this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug use, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

Specifics about a non-con scene between a teenage girl and adult man in the wrap.

There's a short...non-explicit, but potentially upsetting, scene that contains non-consensual kissing and touching between the main character and a man much older than her in a flashback. It doesn't go farther than a kiss, and it's stopped by someone who saves her, but she is definitely traumatized by it. The person who saves her says things to her directly following the assault that could be taken as victim-blaming. If you're reading the book in paper firm it's on pages 173-175 if you'd like to skip it.

allyah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

aliclare's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Sexual violence

stayshomeandreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

That ending!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Mental illness

mommarex1221's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Suicide, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, and Self harm

Minor: Stalking

cezzaslibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Such an amazing book, would highly recommend as a spooky, Halloween time read or for people who just love spooky themes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Vomit, and Violence

bmyurs's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.0

Not my normal genre of book which is why I’m giving it a 3. If you like horror books though I could easily see this as 5 stars since it has plenty of plot hooks to keep you reading- I do like the plot undertone of feminine power.  Also, this is not YA- this is spookier and more graphic than just about anything else I’ve read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicide

sadiefc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, and Vomit

colleensreadingadventures's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book definitely gave me creepy vibes throughout the WHOLE thing. It’s not really a scary feeling just super eerie and gives you this feeling like you know something really bad is just around the corner. 😱😱😱⁣
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There were 3 little girls Iris (7), Viv (9) and Grey (11) that disappeared 10 years ago, without a trace down a old town Edinburgh Road while under their parent’s supervision. One minute they were right in front of them and they turned their heads for one second and they were gone the next. They were gone for 1 solid month until they reappeared just as suddenly on that same Old Town road. They don’t remember what happened but they are suffering from PTSD that has effected them both mentally and physically with changing hair and different eyes. Their family unit is slowly being torn apart. The girls father Gabe slowly loses his mind seeing his children change so much and he eventually commits suicide. ⁣
Cut to the present. Iris’s oldest sister Grey goes missing. She has a habit of disappearing for days at a time ever since she left home at 15. But this time it’s different. With the middle sister Viv in tow Iris and Viv start to notice weird (even weirder that their normal weird life) things while searching for Grey. Like a dead man with bloody symbols all over his body left in their sisters ceiling and a man wearing a bulls mask that seems to be stalking them. And now Iris is getting snippets of memories from the past. And she knows the only way to really find her sister is to figure out the mystery of their disappearance as children. ⁣
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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬:⁣
Iris and Tyler are my favorites.⁣
Probably Tyler most of all! 🔥🔥🔥⁣
I think throwing Tyler (Grey’s hot model boyfriend that kind of reminds me of Harry Styles) in the mix was amazing. He provided some comic relief with his sarcastic wit. And I had stars in my eyes picturing this man come to life! ⁣
I really didn’t have much of an attachment to Viv or Grey except that I felt a weird mix of disgust, admiration and sympathy for Grey.⁣
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𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭:⁣
First off House of Hollow is very well written. It is told in the first person of Iris Hollow. Honestly I would love a rewrite in Grey’s perspective. It would help answer some questions I have.⁣
It is definitely a slow burn. I have a hard time with slower paced books but I think in this case it helped to soak everything up in pieces to truly appreciate the creep factor. You had to follow the bread crumbs to truly understand the story instead of having it thrown all at you if that makes sense. ⁣
The end leaves you wondering if there is more to come. And seriously I didn’t think I would be so invested to read it, but I’m already googling will there be a second House of Hollow book with no answers!! I need to know KS!!! ⁣
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This was a bit of a bizarre, twisty, and spooky book that I didn’t realize I needed in my life. So thank you so much to Penguin Teen for your gifted eArc in exchange for my honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Minor: Death of parent and Eating disorder