Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Last House on Needless Street - Sneak Peek by Catriona Ward, Catriona Ward

103 reviews

devynvictoria's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I finished this book in just a few days. It was gripping and suspenseful, I couldn’t put it down. The multiple povs and changing timelines got confusing at times, but it’s written that way on purpose and overall added to the mysterious “wtf” elements of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Hate crime and Homophobia

ashleykayejournals's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Blood

ekmook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

julienicole1106's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bookishandlegal's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mommarex1221's review against another edition

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

4.5

At 25%, I considered DNFing... but I stuck it out. Halfway through, I was finally starting to come around. Pieces of the story were falling into place and the more of the picture I saw the more and more I was blown away. If there's anything that intrigues you about this, please read on. I promise the pay off is worth it. 
I knew from the first few chapters that what Ward had created was masterfully written, even if I questioned what exactly it was that I was reading. This book will stick with me. 
Triggers galore. Explore at your own risk, some may be considered spoilers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

blklagoon's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

cjxx26's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Mental illness, Suicide, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Blood

whatathymeitwas's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm going to be honest, by the time I was about halfway through this, I was irritated and thought I would hate it by the end. I've maybe never had a book so suddenly change my thoughts on it as this one.

The blurb is very correct. Initially, you think you know what's going on here. Then a couple more times you maybe shift that around some and have an AH-HA! moment, and you think about the blurb, and you tell yourself oh boy they almost got me there. And that's when it changes on you again and you realize you did not in fact have a clue.

It was the second or third little shift that made me think I'd hate this. I had a terrible feeling it was going in a direction that was shocking for the sake of being shocking, and for whatever reason it made me angry. I'm not sure why, because this book is very well written, well fleshed out, with really lifelike characters for the most part. I guess maybe that was the issue, I couldn't reconcile why in the middle of all that, suddenly it would be taking a hard left turn into shock territory somewhat unnecessarily.

I'm happy to say that didn't happen, and I was shook by the time I realized what was really going on and how things linked together, in ways I was completely misled from considering. Color me surprised.

This book is so much more than I thought it was at that point, and it's completely different than what I expected at any point other than the very end. Definitely looking forward to Sundial now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

brittandwaffles's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Alright y’all. I don’t even know what to say about this or how I feel about it. I went in with really high expectations, and I felt like this was a bit of a let down. 

I don’t know what genre to classify this as or who I would even recommend this book to. It’s some sort of gothic/thriller/mystery/suspense/horror hybrid. 

You can’t really say much about the book without giving away spoilers. I was confused and yet saw where this was going the whole time. If you’re not down to be lost af for the vast majority of this book, this may not be a good read for you. It was a slow burn, and I honestly almost gave up on this one. I felt like there were loose ends left, so much so that I immediately started looking for other reviews so I could process what I read. There’s a lot to unpack here, including a cat POV/narrator, which I found bizarre. 

Someone please read this and discuss with me.

I will note that the narrator really did a great job (more on that, but spoilers of course).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, and Alcohol