Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites by Joy Demorra

10 reviews

dracanea's review

emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Medical trauma

steph_weigle's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Bullying, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Classism, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Minor: War, Infidelity, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Alcoholism

bashsbooks's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Hunger Pangs is marketed as a steamy and fun satire of paranormal romance, and I feel like it delivered well on that promise. The chemistry between Nathan and Vlad is a joy to read - and the chemistry with Ursula, too, though I wish there had been more wit her. Some of the political critiques were eye-rollingly heavy-handed, but they weren't wrong. Nathan's disabilities were handled really well, and I'd love to see more heartthrob werewolf doms with arm braces and hearing aids. The sexy scenes were also a lot of fun and very engaging. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

-If you aren't interested in sexual content, there is another edition of this book without it; it has a blue cover.

hopeadinfinitum's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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

Actually obsessed with this. Firstly, the actual plot doesn’t really start until after 400 pages in but every page before that is pure gold. Vlad is absolutely my favourite character, lil ancient submissive vampire doctor?? Excuse me??? Fabulous. Nathan also excellent. Intrigued by Ursula, can’t wait for the sequel. Obviously I read the flirting with fangs edition which is not for the faint hearted or those who don’t want to read EXQUISITELY written link negotiation but if that sounds like your jam I would HIGHLY recommend. The representation in this book is fabulous, bi/pan characters, excellent handling of disability, POC characters, CURVY GIRLS. It’s genuinely hilarious too, and I love the portrayal of Nathan’s family and also the guards on Eyrie. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Colonisation, and Sexual content

Moderate: Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Ableism

Minor: Biphobia, Blood, and Racism

toy_masterpiece's review against another edition

adventurous funny slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and War

black_cat_iiix's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted slow-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: Sexual content

Moderate: Classism, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Ableism

heyjaycee's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

3.75

Another hefty novel, I motored through Hunger Pangs just revelling in the sweetness of queer supernatural men falling in love with hardly a hiccup to their romance. I lost momentum three quarters of the way through, partly just my own reading slump, and partly because it was an uneventful period between the romantic climax and the end of the book. I picked it up again two months later and devoured the ending, hardly able to believe it was over.

Not only does Hunger Pangs give us a healthy queer m/m romance, it also delves deep into disability and chronic pain—dying from it, living with it, how society treats you when you have it. Since I follow Joy Demorra on Tumblr, I know this is her personal experience shining through. Her refusal to compromise on her disability representation in this novel—to water it down or shove it into a back seat for marketability—enriches the story and Nathan as a character, and I'm grateful for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use

hauntedtesty's review

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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

2.5

Hard one to review. I felt the pacing was very uneven, with the first half being very focused on a character romance and then suddenly the last third remembering it had to introduce Ursula and being all doom and world ending. Which was very abruptly solved... There are a lot of characters in the first half who are promptly dropped, due to a switch in genre focus.
I can see where some plot threads will be pulled into the second book, but definitely needed some more pruning. The main duo are fun to read.
Have read that was is an episodic release on patreon, so that might be where the book format falls over. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Racial slurs, Biphobia, and Medical trauma

jade_newcastle's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

This is my go-to comfort book right now! The romance is charming and healthy, the disability representation makes me feel seen, and the worldbuilding is intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Minor: Ableism, Biphobia, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Suicide, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Infertility

toobendy's review

funny hopeful slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I wanted more of Ursula or less of her but she just felt out of place. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Medical trauma