Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth

61 reviews

argrenier's review against another edition

dark fast-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, and Death of parent

czoltak's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

“The harsh, cruel sounds of metal that satisfied the pain, the parts of us that would never completely recover.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this one. However, I can easily see why this book won’t be for everyone. Firstly, the book is marketed as horror, and while it certainly has some horror elements, the overall story is much more of a mystery than anything else. Also, Kari, our main character is someone I’m sure many will find unlikeable. She’s outspoken, coarse, and doesn’t put up with anything that she doesn’t want to. Personally, I loved Kari as a main character; I thought her tenacity and boldness made her incredibly interesting to read from. We follow Kari as she reluctantly goes on a journey to figure out what really happened to her mother after she mysteriously disappeared only 2 days after Kari was born. The sections of trying to figure out what happened were my favorites as we got to learn more about Kari’s past and why she is so guarded and hard now, those who knew her mother best, and some previously unspoken family secrets. However, once we got the final resolution, I was a bit disappointed; the story took a direction I wasn’t expecting and didn’t necessarily love. Also, the final act felt incredibly rushed for some reason. On the other hand, another aspect I did not see coming, but absolutely loved were all the homages to ‘The Shining’. I enjoyed Kari’s love of metal music and horror books, and I loved it even more that she continuously read and referenced ‘The Shining’. My absolute favorite part of the book is when she actually goes to the Stanley Hotel. The mood and tone of this book already reminded me a bit of King’s works, but the direct references made the story that much better. Overall, I know this won’t be for everyone, but I do hope it makes it to the niche audience who will truly love it for what it is. 🎠🍻🏜️🚬🪬💀👀👊🪓⏳

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Ableism, and Incest

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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: Grief, Alcoholism, Addiction, Murder, Gore, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Death, Chronic illness, Incest, Body horror, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Racism, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual content

laura_keoski's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Drug abuse, Murder, Grief, Gaslighting, Body horror, Blood, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Colonisation, Alcohol, Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual content

Minor: Gaslighting, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Emotional abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mfrisk's review against another edition

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

4.0

White Horse is a book about family history, addiction, friendship, and growing up. It is not necessarily a horror/thriller book which will throw action at you from the very beginning but is more of a character study and slow build. I really enjoyed getting to learn about the characters and their motivations as I felt it was very important to the main characters journey to find her mom. To me it showed she needed the support of all those around her to face what occurred towards the end of the book. 

While there were some aspects I didn’t love such as Debby accepting Jake back into her life and the dismissiveness of his bad behavior I think at least leading up to that there is commentary around their relationship which shows how toxic it is. Otherwise loved where this story takes us and it’s discussion of tougher topics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Death, Child death, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Gun violence, and Car accident

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Ableism and Forced institutionalization

effingunicorns's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

4.0

I'm honestly still trying to wrap my head around how I feel about this book, but it was definitely a solid read. A lot of harsh realities intersect to form the playing field, and the mysticism is down to earth while still feeling real and consequential, as opposed to "oh, this is all just a hallucinatory framework for people to deal with their immense grief/trauma, and also I am very clever!" (Yes, I'm still bitter about The Midnight Club.)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Pedophilia

Minor: Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Colonisation, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, and Police brutality

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