Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

61 reviews

vanessa_books26's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

Minor: Racial slurs and Racism

amandaskye's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Alcohol

nere's review against another edition

dark

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death of parent

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This book sits at the exact intersection of dark fairytale and gothic horror. I absolutely loved it and will definitely be reading Ava Reid’s other books! You will love this if you enjoy gothic atmospheres, monstrous women, unreliable narrators and a bit of body horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Incest, and Infertility

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

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

Minor: Addiction, Abortion, and Alcohol

thechaoshour's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.0

 I’m not really sure what to think of this book. I loved that it was a dark fairy tale but the plot was messy and confusing so I never really knew where things were going. Nothing really made as much sense as it should have. I might have been able to ignore that but this book was weirdly sexual for a fairy tale. I don’t think I’ve ever read about a women’s breasts this much from a female author. It was a little weird and very off putting. I could have used some trigger warnings at the begging to prepare myself for all of it, including pedophilia. It was beautifully written but that didn’t hide the serious flaws. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

bohboh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Reid handles the delicate topics of abuse and anorexia with careful respect and grace when telling this chilling gothic horror. She capitalizes well on romance and fantasy themes to draw interesting and distinct characters. I could not put this down once I started.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

aimeemg155's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Classism

morgangd's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

An intense tale of trauma in dark fairy tale mode, with every trigger warning under the sun and maybe, just maybe, actually too crass. But it did move me at parts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

zoeblair17's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

Literally ALL the trigger warnings! Not a story for the faint of heart but that warning speaks so highly of the writing! Not usually a horror/dark fairytale gal but the way the author tells this story is immersive and captivating 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail