Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

59 reviews

insomniacsun's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Questo è il secondo libro che leggo di Ava Reid, essendo partita a leggere le sue opere dal debutto. A mani basse, questo è sicuramente il migliore dei due: l'ambientazione cupa e la tensione palpabile tipicamente gotica mi hanno immerso nel libro immediatamente.

Marlinchen è stata una protagonista che mi ha intrigato fin dalla prima pagina e il suo crescente rapporto con Sevas mi ha rincuorato: per quanto a volte risulti molto giovanile e ingenuo, riflette perfettamente la loro visuale di mondo che è sempre stato molto ristretto e sorvegliato.  Le loro esperienze non sono trattate con leggerezza e allo stesso tempo il loro peso non soffoca il resto della narrazione. 
Ho apprezzato il tumultuoso del rapporto tra le sorelle, tutte prigioniere dello stesso padre senza essere rappresentate come vittime uguali. Inizialmente, temevo che il loro legame rischiasse di essere banalizzato come tutto rosa e fiori; addentrandomi nel clue della storia è apparente che la prima persona dal punto di vista di Marlinchen mi ha accecato alla realtà dei fatti (sono sempre stata schiva con i libri in prima persona, ma protagonisti inaffidabili rendono l'esperienza molto più accattivante).

Dal punto di vista ritmico, anche stavolta la lettura della prima parte del libro è stata molto più dinamica e coinvolgente, seguita da una seconda parte più misteriosa e lenta, permettendo di unire vari pezzi del puzzle disseminati anche in precedenza. Detto questo, ho notato che alcuni passaggi lenti della seconda parte mi hanno fatto sentire come se l'autrice fosse confusa sul come procedere con la storia. Ho percepito la stessa cosa anche con il romanzo precedente.
Il finale era un po' sbrigativo e lacunoso, 

cosa ha fermato il padre dall'usare la sua magia per fuggire di prigione? All'inizio pensavo che fosse l'effetto della bacca, ma al processo la sua magia si è fatta sentire con l'acquazzone... non me lo spiego.

  ma mi ha fatto piacere vedere un finale semi-lieto dopo la valanga di orrori che i vari personaggi hanno passato. 

Stilisticamente invece, si nota come il linguaggio utilizzato dimostra l'innocenza con cui Marlinchen continua ad atteggiarsi, guidata per tutta la vita dalla sua raccolta di storie e dalle profezie del padre. Inoltre, l'autrice ha uno stile estremamente immersivo e fiabesco, fortificando l'impressione di addentrarsi in un mondo magico. 
Detto questo, take a shot per ogni volta che Ava Reid descrive il seno di Marlinchen (68 volte. Avvelenamento da alcol imminente). 

Tutto sommato è stata una lettura soddisfacente, soprattutto considerando le aspettative iniziali medio-basse dovute a "The wolf and the woodsman". Conoscendo i miei gusti, penso che avrei apprezzato di più la storia se ci fosse stato un focus maggiore sugli omicidi, ma comprendo perchè questo non ci sia stato. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Body horror, and Toxic relationship

poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

Juniper and Thorn reminded me of a beautiful sweater I have.  It's gorgeous, warm, and looks good on me. But it's also itchy and uncomfortable and I'm always aware I'm wearing it. This story was beautifully told, but it was coarse and unpleasant.  I never lost myself in it.  The hypersexualization of every scenario was distracting and distasteful.   It's clear the sex scenes were not meant to be titillating so I question why the author didn't use a more closed-door approach.  The abuse and eating disorder plot points were too rampant and unnecessarily triggering.   The story was as grim as those of old.  The language and descriptions were precise. The characters were well-developed, even if some of their actions and motivations were questionable.  I didn't enjoy it, but others might.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Body horror, Confinement, Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Self harm, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

ann99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Gore, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Antisemitism, and Toxic relationship

meat_muffin's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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? Yes

2.75

Listen, this book was… weird. And not my usual style at all! I’m glad I read it, enjoyed the writing style, but it wrapped up leaving me more confused than anything else and not filling in all of the plot holes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, and Alcohol

currantcat's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

This book is deeply embedded in the world of fairy tales, the dark ones that preceded the sanitized versions we learned as children. I liked the main character's comments on fairy tale "rules" and how the narrative ends up confirming or twisting them. The prose was probably one of my favorite parts of the book. Marlinchen, our narrator and point of view character was compelling, though a little frustrating at times. Though she was not nearly as infuriating as many other characters. There are heavy themes of abuse explored in this book, along with other things that may be disturbing to some readers. Check trigger warnings. Personally, the book being a horror did elicit a disturbed feeling from me while reading. So, if you want a fantasy horror that unnerves you slowly, this is it. Also, it is a fair bit hornier than I expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Cannibalism, Violence, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Body horror

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, and Xenophobia

aidareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

this gave me exactly what i wanted: spooky vibes, witches, a bit of blood, and a satisfactory ending. i also really liked the relationship dynamic between sevas and marlinchen, as well as how topics like desire, power, and sacrifice are dealt with throughout the story!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Cannibalism

pencil_case's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Rape, Body horror, Death, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit

year23's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

I'm confused by the praise I saw for this book. I think that created expectations impacting my experience. There is little plot - and I think I'd be okay with that if the character development was stronger but it was so difficult to place the main character, their wants, needs, flaws, etc. - it was all over the place (and the lack of plot and random events didn't help much in that regard). The writing - strong at times, albeit quite repetative (eg, the MC blushes every other page). Clearly an imaginative and creative writer - there were vibes galore. Bleak, gross, horny, but that is not enough for this many pages. I wanted more gothic horror - suspense, trepidation, fear, but the lack of plot and character development made it hard to feel much of anything apart from confusion or disinterest. The narrative's worldbuilding is so bleak, anything bad happening to someone is like just another day ending in y. Stakes aren't a thing with that level of bleakness, especially if the MC is ambivalent about most of it. 

There's also an amorality here that I couldn't quite grasp. It's a fairy tale - so even if it's a bleak takeaway, there's still that "ah ha" moment that didn't happen here for me. Maybe that's going too far though in my critique - and more of a reflection of what I want from a book (which has nothing to do with what the author wants to write and share!). This one walks a very fine line that I think could have been really powerful in exploring trauma and its impact given the MC's toxic (massive understatement) family and environment and instead, due to lack of plot and characterization, falls flat/rings hollow. 

A note - by amorality, I am NOT referring to the growing sexuality of the MC and how that shows up in the text. This was rather tame compared to other romance books I've read, even some YA books. Yes - words like nipples and boobs are said way more than even in your typical romance (more a writing thing than a too-scintillating thing) but to me, it felt like a key part of the MC's character's connection to their sexuality and a site of pain & awakening so that tracked. Did it read like YA? Yes - and that would be more my issue with it - it didn't feel like an adult fantasy at all apart from the horror elements, but even how those were written felt YA. Again - that's not a bad thing - but I'm not sure that's what the author was attempting. 

I would recommend this to very specific people who I know are into these vibes, as the vibes are strong but there is no plot here, the most one dimensional of characters across the board, and I think failed in telling a story about living in a traumatic family situation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Self harm, Body horror, Body shaming, Murder, and Incest

chofigabriela's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Cannibalism, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Eating disorder, and Animal death

Minor: Death of parent and Death

libraryofmoss's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

Allll the content warnings! This book is dark and grotesque. The prose is repetitive and I probably would have quit it except for the hope for some positive resolution of lil the awfulness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Vomit, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Eating disorder, and Injury/Injury detail