Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

81 reviews

stuckinatimeloop's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

4.5

the characters and their dynamics and relationships are great. i don't really get the plot, maybe it's not my genre. 
but sam and andrew. i loved Sam's development. and riley is just amazing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, and Blood

aplpaca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual content

alouette's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

i needed months to process how good this book was. the intimacy of every moment made it feel so real that i just needed to breathe after, listen to some of the wonderful playlists the author shared, and thank them for the experience.  

the idea of the person you built your life around being gone, rethinking your whole relationship with them, the mystery of their death being so dark and twisted, it was all very well-crafted. one of the first mysteries where i haven't wanted to speed through to find out what happens, because the characters and other plot beats are so gorgeous and fascinating that it would be a mistake to go too fast. the dialogue is also so cleverly funny, even in the most tense moments! i don't even mind that andrew was a basic white boy at first, by the end of things he had my heart for how real and flawed he was, and the way he was just barely learning who he was as his own person. the book too had its flaws, such as the depth of some characters and being a bit overly sensual at times, but i adore it regardless.

He was going to take that 'maybe' to his grave.

i'll likely have more to say upon rereading, which i will definitely be doing. also, the narrator's deep southern accent was SO PERFECT. this was my first real southern gothic and i'm so glad for it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Suicide, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content

charmarie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

Summer Sons is a moody, atmospheric and thrilling read. It's southern gothic, dark academia, and queer romance rolled into one. The sense of danger, dread, and darkness is well balanced with interesting and lovable characters, themes of redemption, self discovery, and self acceptance. Mandelo's prose is excellent, bar a few overused phrases (i.e., describing a cold drink as "perspiring" enough times to be distracting). The book touches on both race and LGBT+ issues tastefully and without loosing the dark atmosphere. 
 TW for themes of SH and suicide, ritual violence, gore, drug use, adult sexual content.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Gore, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia

perkyanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

If you like horror dark academia mystery southern gothic chaotic bi energy death magic, all with a trans character who it literally does not matter is trans and who you can’t tell is trans til it just happens to come up, I cannot recommend Summer Sons highly enough. The only thing that could improve it are more female characters but then it couldn’t be a book that is largely about male relationships. And it has one of the BEST scenes with a female character who is otherwise unimportant I’ve seen in a long time.

And it’s spicy at points which was NOT expected in a, well, horror but not horror but horror ok mystery maybe maybe suspense? Is dark academia even a genre or just a sub genre or a blend genre I don’t fucking know book

And while I normally don’t actually love spice in normal books and was surprised at the level of detail it didn’t feel gratuitous it felt extremely relevant to character development bc repression and male friendship and sexuality is a big part of the book

Honestly this book is just a sweltering mess of OH MY GOD GO TO CLASS and DO YOU WANT TO GET YOUR DUMB ASS MURDERED TOO and IF YOU TALKED ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED which I guess is a big part of why it has to be about idiot boys instead of idiot girls, even though as an idiot woman I prefer reading about idiot girls. But anyway, these idiot dirt bag druggie boys are adorable and I want to give them all a good talking to. But hey really excellent book about male friendship and relationships and the blurry (ha!) line between homoeroticism and brotherhood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Classism

Spicy

khea's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Deadnaming, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Transphobia

beepsies's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Racism, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Suicide, Torture, and Medical content

At one point, the main character sleepwalks and is found covered in

rot from laying in/on a dead stag

. It's small, and the story doesn't dwell on it.

introverted_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

babe wake up and smell the petrol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Religious bigotry and Fire/Fire injury

mollymawk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

A wonderful book, slow and haunting. Had a hard time relating or caring about the main characters at first, their flaws raising my hackles, but they worked their way into my heart and I yearned for a happy ending, which, though bittersweet, I eventually got. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual content

Minor: Cancer

fieldfarmer's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Minor: Gore and Injury/Injury detail