Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

51 reviews

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Stalking, Gore, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Bullying, Body horror, Abandonment, Vomit, Suicide, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Child death, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault and Murder

thelongautumn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Death, Child death, Suicide, Murder, Kidnapping, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Bullying

fayfaybleugh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

An enjoyable read that only creeped me out after I was finished and turned the lights off. Delightfully grotesque

where the “fairyland” in question is anything but enchanting, fantastical in only how full of rot and decay it is. I also enjoyed watching the protagonist realize her perfect sister is actually a monster. 

There were some unresolved things- mostly if the changelings are “wearing” the skin of those that were killed, how was Iris able to find the bodies of the girls? Is there a reason being a changeling gives them such weird compulsion/intoxication powers? Agnes’ story felt both unexplained and unnecessary to the plot- had great potential to be a bigger character that I found lacking. Tyler Yang was also an enjoyable character with an interesting &relevant backstory, but his interaction with Iris made me uncomfortable (she is… 17). It felt like it would have been appropriate if the characters were slightly older with Iris in college instead of high school. Lastly, I know authors can’t really control the book cover (which is BEAUTIFUL) but it super bugged me that the character is brunette w/brown eyes and soft features- the opposite of how the hollow sisters are described. (Unless it isn’t one of them?)

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Alcoholism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

nosieba's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

bookishgoob's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

This book was incredibly intriguing and i liked a lot of it, however for me some of the descriptions made my skin crawl and made me incredibly nauseated. I enjoyed reading it but i don’t think i could handle reading it again. I think it’s great that the author was able to make me feel physically ill with her descriptions but for me it was too much. i did hope for a different ending but the twist was still good. this is not just a fantasy book like people on book tok say. this is a HORROR book. so beware of that going in. all in all it was a good book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

bwwilhelm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

5.0

Check the content warnings, and take them very seriously!

That said, this book is nothing like I expected it to be. It's a glorious, dark fairy tale.

Without giving too much detail...

All the very best villians are somewhat sympathetic.

Also, the idea that souls can get stuck after death, not just because they have unfinished business,  BUT ALSO BECAUSE SOMEONE LIVING IS UNABLE TO LET THEM GO ... just, wow. My heart hurts in the best way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

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.

rachelwierick's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual assault, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Violence

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

chichisode's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Vomit, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual assault, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Kidnapping

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Pedophilia, and Violence