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blacksphinx's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying and Sexism
Minor: Blood and Infidelity
coco78337's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was such an easy and amazing read. I would genuinely recommend this book to anyone who is in a transitionary period of their life or just feels stuck. I loved the platonic love is this book, it really made me want to hang out with my girl friends and move to a small quaint town. This book gets 5 stars with flying colors.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Vomit, Gore, Alcoholism, Body horror, and Alcohol
theliteraryhooker's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.25
Maybe a hair on the predictable side but I mostly enjoyed this read. Both Annie and Sophie are interesting characters to follow, and I appreciated Annie's character arc for the most part.
Content Warnings
Minor: Vomit, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship
elsebeok's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Vomit, Blood, and Death of parent
poisoned_icecream's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit
Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny
cc_shelflove's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Oooooooh, what a quick and fun read! Who doesn’t love witches? The story was super cute, as we watch ‘just turned 30’ Annie attempt to restart her life after a breakup. Slowly, she learns to call the village of Rowan her home. She makes friends along the way, but is there something fishy going on with this Sophie woman the whole town seems to be afraid of…? I would recommend this book to anyone who feels sad, lost, or entirely too single. Its message was great and I loved every minute!
Final thoughts: you couldn’t pay me enough to have a pet spider.
“Is this how it happens? Is this how you make friends as an adult? You stumble upon someone wonderful, and all of a sudden, you’re close?”
“I will not meet him there. I will not shrink myself down to his size, or anyone else’s, for their comfort. For their appeasement.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Violence, Gore, Bullying, and Blood
Minor: Vomit
thegoblinempress's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
I received an eARC of Cackle from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Hmm. I have very mixed feelings about this one.
Up to the halfway mark I was preparing for this to be a new 5 star favourite. I don't agree with the reviews that claim this book isn't horror because horror, like any genre, has many subgenres, and in my opinion cosy horror is still horror. But whether or not this book is horror isn't what demoted Cackle from a 5 star to a 3 star read for me.
I love the concept of a 30-year-old woman fresh out of a long relationship befriending an older woman who introduces her to literal empowerment through witchcraft. I would also like to move to a new a town and befriend a witch. Initially Annie is someone you can't help but feel for; she was convinced she and her ex, Sam, would get married, and instead she finds herself single and having to leave New York City to start a new job in a small town where she can afford rent.
Then Annie meets the glamorous Sophie who takes her under her wing. Annie is enamoured by her, even though the rest of the townspeople seem to be almost... scared of Sophie.
There's a lot about this novel I enjoyed. It's such an easy read and there are several air-punching moments where Annie finds gumption.
But I think Cackle could have done more with the ideas it had. There are brief mentions of some of the things Sophie's done to protect herself and the friends like her she's lost because, throughout the ages, townspeople have been threatened by her being a woman who's quite happy and comfortable in her own company, but I don't think Sophie got as much attention as she should have. This isn't Sophie's book, but because we didn't see more of her it ultimately felt like Annie went from doing everything her ex-boyfriend suggested to everything Sophie suggested. She does stand up for herself eventually, but it feels a bit too little too late.
For a book about friendship, I actually thought what was missing the most was kindness. I love that Annie learns to stop pleasing everyone around her to the detriment of her own happiness, but she's very quick to doubt Sophie despite the various ways she helps her, andhaving the novel end with the townspeople also slightly scared of her didn't feel like the feminist win I think Rachel Harrison was aiming for. I was hoping Annie would breach the gap between Sophie and the rest of the town rather than merely joining Sophie as someone who can wander around without paying for her coffee and her groceries because she can curse anyone she likes if she doesn't get what she wants.
Ultimately I still had a lot of fun with Cackle and I'm still keen to read more from Rachel Harrison, but I wish I'd loved it more.
Hmm. I have very mixed feelings about this one.
Up to the halfway mark I was preparing for this to be a new 5 star favourite. I don't agree with the reviews that claim this book isn't horror because horror, like any genre, has many subgenres, and in my opinion cosy horror is still horror. But whether or not this book is horror isn't what demoted Cackle from a 5 star to a 3 star read for me.
I love the concept of a 30-year-old woman fresh out of a long relationship befriending an older woman who introduces her to literal empowerment through witchcraft. I would also like to move to a new a town and befriend a witch. Initially Annie is someone you can't help but feel for; she was convinced she and her ex, Sam, would get married, and instead she finds herself single and having to leave New York City to start a new job in a small town where she can afford rent.
Then Annie meets the glamorous Sophie who takes her under her wing. Annie is enamoured by her, even though the rest of the townspeople seem to be almost... scared of Sophie.
There's a lot about this novel I enjoyed. It's such an easy read and there are several air-punching moments where Annie finds gumption.
But I think Cackle could have done more with the ideas it had. There are brief mentions of some of the things Sophie's done to protect herself and the friends like her she's lost because, throughout the ages, townspeople have been threatened by her being a woman who's quite happy and comfortable in her own company, but I don't think Sophie got as much attention as she should have. This isn't Sophie's book, but because we didn't see more of her it ultimately felt like Annie went from doing everything her ex-boyfriend suggested to everything Sophie suggested. She does stand up for herself eventually, but it feels a bit too little too late.
For a book about friendship, I actually thought what was missing the most was kindness. I love that Annie learns to stop pleasing everyone around her to the detriment of her own happiness, but she's very quick to doubt Sophie despite the various ways she helps her, and
Ultimately I still had a lot of fun with Cackle and I'm still keen to read more from Rachel Harrison, but I wish I'd loved it more.
Content Warnings
Minor: Gaslighting, Vomit, and Toxic relationship
emoryjoy's review against another edition
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-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
3.75
The back of the book sounds like it will be a queer romance. It is not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Gore, Stalking, Blood, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Body shaming
Arachnophobia - there are lots of spiders in this bookbitterseason's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Body shaming, and Body horror
Minor: Animal death, Misogyny, Murder, Vomit, Bullying, Sexism, Cursing, Infidelity, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
blewballoon's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
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
3.0
As I was reading this book, I thought I would describe it as "unhinged." It starts out sane enough with a main character who feels like a person. A person who is in a bad place emotionally, but still a person you can relate to. As she is thrust into more bizarre situations and interactions, it is harder to understand why she does what she does. In some instances she's obtusely passive and ignores what should not be ignored. In others she's overly confrontational and aggressive. I started to lose my sympathy and understanding of her and any of the other characters and never really got it back. The side characters and Sophie never feel completely fleshed out. Sophie is so performative and mysterious you never get closure on what she's really like underneath it all. I did like the ending, and I flew through the book, it was easy to read and kept me engaged even if a lot of the time I was just asking myself "wtf?"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Body horror and Bullying
Minor: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Toxic relationship