Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead

36 reviews

alabooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

       You may not like this book if you are a fundamentalist Christian, as it deals with some of the hypocrisy of a fictional pastor, I'm sure modeled after some real ones. It also deals with an incorrectly labeled fictional Wiccan sect which was much more Satanist than true Wicca.
    That being said it was an excellent book, in my opinion, very dark, but a good romantic thriller. However, the end left me unsatisfied. I'd have liked an epilogue of what happened to the town after, and if the MCs made it through.
    I found the journey enjoyable, and it had some unpredictable twists. Overall, an excellent book.
 
 Narrator Rating:  4.25 stars
   Well the narrator did a good job, she didn't do enough tonal shifts for different characters' voices. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Gaslighting, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Grief, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Misogyny, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Racism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Body horror, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Vomit, Addiction, Abortion, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

The graphic animal cruelty & animal death were not too drawn out and at the start of the book. The other animal death wasn't on the page, just some parts with talk or one of the characters having a dead animal (snake and deer).

tiiiger35's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.75

I really enjoyed this book, I’d have given it 5 stars if it wasn’t for the ending which was open ended. 

It’s definitely a southern gothic thriller with an underlying supernatural element. 

It’s set in a religiously zealot small town, the author does a great job of describing the hot, humid, swampy, surroundings of the Deep South. 

Ruth, the pastors daughter is naive, submissive and too easily influenced. Her blind ignorance towards her surroundings irritated me a lot. 

I was very drawn to Evers’ character, a tormented soul who’s been mistreated his entire life. His vulnerability around Ruth is endearing & balances out his lingering darkness. 

I see a lot of people slating the Twiligjt references but what they don’t get is that young girls are drawn to books like that and figures Edward Cullen because it’s a love interest outside of society and morality. This cries out to a girl like Ruth confined by religious beliefs & restrictions. It’s no wonder she looked at Ever, as her idea of a dark romance waiting to save her. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the book.

It was hard to put down at times and I raced through it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Hate crime, Murder, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Abortion, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Drug abuse

judyhagan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Misogyny, and Murder

ksquaredreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

karinreadsalot's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

Soooo…. This book started off really thick in Louisiana lore but then spiraled into a weird small town religious cover up story…the whole time there was a hint that something supernatural was going on but it never came to fruition. Sad considering the writing prose was so smooth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

booksandbabble's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

chelseadenn34's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

So I loved In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead and I’ve been excited to read more of her works. I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about this one. And y’all this one is definitely a ride. Like there is a lot going on in this one. 

I feel like I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this book but I can’t articulate them well or honestly even make sense of them. This book was definitely engaging and I was invested—every time I picked it up to read I did not want to put it down. And for the most part I really enjoyed this story. The only thing that kinda bothered me was the religious fundamentalism and hypocrisy of the town. Like I felt like I was reading about a town set in the 1960s, not present day. I’m a Christian, and so reading about some of the things that went on in this town under the veil of God’s will and such made my heart hurt. If you’re reading this book and you know nothing about Christianity, just know this is the worst version of it. God is just, but he is also gracious and merciful. 

This is a very engaging read and even though it wasn’t  my favorite by Ashley, I’m still excited to read more of her work. 

This book has one fade to black scene with minimal detail and contains moderate language. 

Trigger Warnings: religious fundamentalism, sexual abuse, child abuse, rape

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Rape, and Child abuse

teganbeesebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Classism, Child abuse, Death, Rape, Abortion, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

czoltak's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Never thought I’d read a thriller of Bonnie and Clyde meets Twilight 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, Blood, and Child abuse