Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai

7 reviews

grets_reads's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

Ooohhhh this one was good!!! Magical realism, romance, a bit of action, and some wonderfully written and diverse multilingual characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Cursing, Medical content, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Abandonment, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

katievallin's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, and Racism

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Medical content, Sexual content, Confinement, Death, Grief, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

lbelow's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

This is an excellent book with an expansive world. I am very much hoping this becomes a series because I adored the characters and want to see their lives progress! This one is a roller coaster of emotions but the end is so sweet and happy that it makes me smile. An instant favourite! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Cursing, and Slavery

"Slavery" doesn't precisely fit the content of the book, but is the closest approximation. Throughout the book, one of the main characters is threatened with or put under coercion by another character in order to force the main character to do (non-sexual, but often violent) things they refused to do.

shector1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective relaxing 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Death of parent

displacedcactus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

This book was just an okay read for me. I don't feel strongly one way or another about the tropes at play, and the writing was just fine. Pacing was a little uneven and the world building felt a bit squishy. The dialog was pretty good and there's a LOT of pining if you're into that sort of thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Transphobia

An antagonistic character repeatedly misgenders a non-binary character and tries to insist that they dress in a way "appropriate" to their AGAB.

purplepenning's review

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

I would definitely read more books set in this world! An international spy agency that includes magic users and beings from both the East and the West? Gimme! 

Bitter Medicine is an intriguing blend of xianxia (Chinese immortals) fantasy adventure, Western spy thriller, and contemporary romance. Elle is a powerful semi-immortal descendent of the Chinese god of medicine, hiding as a mediocre magical calligrapher to protect her brother(s) lives. Luc is a lonely, tormented, half-elven French fixer who is compelled by Oberon, the head of the agency, to perform against his own conscience. Their paths cross in Elle's glyph shop, where client and artist each see that there's more to the other than meets the eye. When their lives start to tangle outside the workshop, things heat up. And we're not just talking about Elle's pyrokinetics or the masterfully steamy shower scene — we're talking past traumas and family and career priorities coming to an explosive head.

Although a bit of a slow starter, once it gets going the story moves along at a brisk pace with more than competent, sometimes elegant, writing. Where the writing doesn't quite translate for me is the dialogue. The banter is there but the humor is a little less sharp than I'm use to. In some cases it's so subtle I had to read it again to understand the implications; in others, it's stated so simply and obviously that I had to read it again to see if I was missing something. I'm fully prepared to chalk this up to a cultural unfamiliarity on my end, though. Just like the bits of French, Chinese, and Latin that I couldn't understand without the help of Google translate, there are family dynamics and other characterizations and plot points that I stumbled on a bit. It was still thoroughly enjoyable and the characters still shine through, making it a compelling (I read it in one day!) and satisfying (get that HEA!) read on many levels.    

   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Violence

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Body horror, Abandonment, Cursing, Blood, Bullying, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent and Child abuse

Also contains use of acupuncture needles and physical compulsion via true name geas.