Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

30 reviews

onemamareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Read my full review here: https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/white-horse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death of parent, Gun violence, Alcohol, Misogyny, Grief, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Murder, Gaslighting, Addiction, Racism, Child abuse, Blood, Colonisation, Violence, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Body horror

chelsearae87's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Body horror, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Death, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Blood

axo17's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I found myself enjoying the book on occasion, flew through it, but overall it wasn’t my favorite. I also felt it was a bit predictable and not as scary/haunting as I thought it would. I do really like Native American history and culture and I think that was what made it the most interesting to me. Decent enough quick read but I wouldn’t find myself rereading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gore, Drug use, Death, Blood, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Murder, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, and Alcohol

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Grief, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia

Minor: Abandonment, Sexual assault, and Gun violence

Additional CWs: intergenerational trauma

yuyuv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Drug use, Medical content, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Cursing, Addiction, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Car accident

bambooboy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Pedophilia, Murder, Grief, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Gun violence, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Violence, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Medical content, Classism, Racism, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Colonisation

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Grief, Dementia, Colonisation, Death of parent, Incest, Rape, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

what_karla_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Drug use

Moderate: Death of parent and Drug abuse

Minor: Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Incest, Gun violence, and Gaslighting

jaimeeslitlife's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

White Horse was not quite what I expected. I've seen many glowing reviews so maybe this is a case of my getting my hopes up way too high? 

Note: White Horse read as more mystery than horror to me (which did not impact my rating, it just seems like a good thing to point out). 

The premise of White Horse seemed promising, but the clunky pace had me working pretty hard to get invested in the story. There was quite a bit of repetition, and lots of moments where information was being withheld from the main character for flimsy reasons (ie it felt like I could feel the author trying to slow down the mystery and prolong the big reveal). And the ending was ultimately not worth it to me. Like I said, there are lots of great reviews on this one from others, so maybe I'm missing something. But I'll put my spoiler-filled thoughts below:

The ending to this one really ruined it for me. I think that the concept of humans as monsters and exploring the different forms abusive relationships can take has promise, but the ending was so so so icky to me. There was a weird feeling that we were supposed to slightly understand/forgive the child-molester/murderer father? Forgiveness is great, but there are some things that just shouldn't be forgiven. And then there's also Debby's relationship with her husband that seems quite unhealthy but is also forgiven and forgotten at the end. And then everything magically wraps up to this super happy fairytale ending in like five pages. I'm just spilling my train of thought here, but this one just did not work for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gun violence

julied's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Addiction, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Sexism, Vomit, Alcohol, and Alcoholism