Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

59 reviews

3rdeyeopen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Murder, Classism, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Eating disorder, Death, Gore, Gaslighting, Blood, Torture, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

iconicavocado's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Book 📖: 4/5 stars

I've been dying to read this book! I've heard nothing but good things and for the most part it delivered! 

I really enjoyed the reimagining of The Juniper Tree with such poetic melancholy writing and exploration of dark themes. I wasn't entirely sure how large the scope would go but I found the ending quite satisfying. 

Going into this I knew there are content warnings, but I still found some parts to be hard to stomach. I don't demerit the book for it because the uncomfortableness was what the author was going for. I did find the pacing to be quite slow and wish it picked up its third act just a bit quicker. 

This is not a book for everyone. It's incredibly dark and definitely in the realm of horror. But I loved it's unique writing and haunting take of an already twisted fairytale. I'm excited to read more of Ava Reid's work! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gore, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

lorie266'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Classism, Animal death, Confinement, Grief, Sexual violence, and Vomit

thehobbitbarbie's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Blood, Addiction, Body horror, Death, Rape, Gaslighting, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, and Gore

thimi_time's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow, this is an extremely emotional and also rather graphic book. Ava Reid really has no qualms about the length she goes to textually illustrate the scenes and plot - this is definitely not a bad thing, I found her imagery quite striking and it really is beautiful to read, but it can/will probably be off-putting to some readers. And some scenes…I was shocked and horrified, but I do think it’s important to show another way that people can be affected by

abuse

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Gaslighting

bestiality

.

bea_reads_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.25

I really loved this book. I will say though, it’s very dark and heavy. I’ve included as many comprehensive warnings as I can, but I’ll say it here too:

Sexual violence, coercive control, and mental illness are really big themes in this book. The main character and her love interest both experienced sexual assault from adults as minors, and the main character describes in detail exactly what her doctor did to her around 50% of the way through the book. There is no penetrative rape, but it is still hard to read. If sexual violence/harassment is a trigger for you, I would advise you to be extremely cautious about this book, and to take care of yourself if you do decide to read it.

Additionally, the main character is mentally ill. She has violent intrusive thoughts about self harm. She has an eating disorder and forces herself to vomit up everything she eats. She also experiences intense anxiety. As someone who also has anxiety and intrusive thoughts, this was hard for me to read, but also nice in a way. It’s good to know I’m not the only person in the world this happens to. 

Aside from the hard parts, this was a well written book in my opinion. The pacing was good, the romance was okay, and the prose and worldbuilding were very compelling. I also liked how the author showed the many ways in which abuse can manifest in someone. The main character, Marlinchen, is one of three sisters. One of them became cruel, taking out her hurt and anger on her sisters because she couldn’t take it out on her father. The other became cunning and level-headed, always making herself seem like the sensible one while working behind her sisters’ backs to gain her father’s favor. And Marlinchen is constantly fielding insults about how she is nothing but a doormat, doing everything her father says without complaint to avoid angering him. 

I think this story is a wonderful commentary on the ways in which an abuser can fully and completely f*ck up the lives of everyone around them, and how hard it is for their victims to heal afterward, all wrapped up in the guise of a fairytale retelling.

I also really liked that two of the three abusers died (painfully) and the third went to prison.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Death, Animal death, Blood, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Fatphobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

rahbrennichi's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, Blood, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse and Cannibalism

gweenbean_'s review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

prose was so so pretty i could not eat while reading certain parts of this story tbh 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Violence, Animal death, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Gore

itsheyfay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Confinement, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Eating disorder, Murder, Self harm, Body horror, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Death, Gore, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Cursing, Gaslighting, Animal death, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Incest

xpelvicstabilityx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

1.0

Truly wish there were more trigger warnings with this book. The folk tale form is compelling but so many of the details are gruesome and disturbing in a way that made my skin crawl and still does when I’m reminded of it.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Sexism, Misogyny, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Confinement, and Medical trauma