Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

59 reviews

dragnfary's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder, Blood, and Sexual content

aftyface's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

0.5

The only reason I finished this book was to not have the last scene I read be something so gross. Why would anyone willingly want to read something so dark and awful? A friend had us read the book and I had no warning for the disturbing content. I hated every second and sped read it. The partial star is for the good writing, which I believe the author wasted on this crap and makes it all the more tragic they decided to put something like this out into the world. I will never reccomend. (Some) Spoilers ahead: Its obvious the author thinks men/the patriarchy is evil. Main character is a door mat. I don't care that she grows a spine at the last second I would have enjoyed slamming my head against a wall more than reading this. Her sisters were tropes with zero depth. Also, there is enough violence and sexual asault against women in the real world, I don't need to read about it in detail. There is nothing but darkness and evil in this story and I would be ashamed to be the author that put something like this into the world. What a gross book. I doubt anyone who has read this could say "wow, I'm so glad I read that book. I feel so much better."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia, Body horror, Misogyny, Excrement, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

niliii's review against another edition

challenging mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cannibalism and Violence

Minor: Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Alcoholism

totallyshelfaware's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Self harm, Gore, Cannibalism, Body horror, Animal death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

cristina_margarita's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.75

Ava Reid specializes in writing strong but not necessarily likable characters. Marlinchen was uncomfortably relatable & while her story is tragic it evokes a wide range of emotions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Vomit, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Antisemitism

alicia_ann_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I thought the narrator of this story did an excellent job, from the sounds of other reviews I think I enjoyed the story more because I did the audiobook rather than physical copy.

I was also unfamiliar with The Juniper Tree story and I actually got more of the 12 Dancing Princesses with a bit of Sweeney Todd (although having now read a synopsis of The Juniper Tree I think I can now see how that would replace the demon Barber) 

Anyways, I went into this book having no idea it was going to be as dark as it was and many parts of it made me uncomfortable, but that kind of added to the story for me. 

I would have appreciated trigger warnings at the beginning of the audio, or anywhere on the Scribd app where I got mine from, because while I was not triggered there is so much in this book many many people will be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

shutupaboutbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I took me a couple days to put into words my feelings about this book. I loved The Wolf and the Woodsman a lot but Juniper and Thorn is a masterpiece. The storytelling is beautiful and really takes you to another world. I wish I could read this book again for the first time. I highly recommend it if you can stomach it but please please please check the content warnings before you read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Murder, Gore, Incest, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Cannibalism

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

**Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for an advanced e-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.**

I felt so unsure reading this book but I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would - if enjoy is even the right word. I have so many thoughts and it will be difficult to put them into words. But I flew through this book so much faster than I thought I could!

This book was a mash up of so many things - horror, slight body horror, influence from gothic romance, and Brothers Grimm classic fairytales. And it somehow worked so incredibly well to bring this story together!
The characters were so well written - realistically flawed and some are so realistically evil. While I saw one twist coming, the reveal was done so well. And the other twists were fantastic. As things kept unravelling, I was completely on the edge of my seat waiting to see how things would end up for the characters. The ending was realistic and everything I wanted from the ending of this kind of novel.

I don't think this could really be compared to anything or recommended based on someone liking a specific genre, but it is such a unique and interesting read from anything else I have read recently. If the premise entices you, I highly recommend checking it out - but read all of the trigger warnings first!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Xenophobia

There are paragraphs detailing a dream where a character harms themself;

Cannibalism is in the story in terms of characters dying and other characters eating their organs

aleawrites's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Self harm, Sexual assault, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse