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mariahmmm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
What a chaotic story! Nothing makes sense, and that is part of the book's charm. Filled with quirky characters with a strange set of morals and values, this was mostly a fun epic adventure. The book was a 4/5 until the (literal) climax of the slow-burn romance, with the experienced Ned seemingly taking advantage of naive Cecilia that left a sour taste.
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Blood
Moderate: Infidelity, Cursing, Misogyny, Murder, Drug use, Sexual content, and Kidnapping
Minor: Abandonment
grets_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Moderate: Violence and Gun violence
Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, Abandonment, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism
clairew97's review against another edition
2.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Body shaming, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, Abandonment, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Sexism
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Gun violence
buildingtaste's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Most egregious here, though, is something I can't blame Holton for, because it seems to be more a convention of the historical fantasy-romance genre than anything: Cecilia is just the least interesting person in the bunch. And we have to stick with her a good 80% of the time. When your heroine sums up her role in the story with a glib "I'm afraid I've done nothing to advance the plot," and it's true, a good editor should perk up and recommend doing something about that. Cecilia, despite her bog-standard spunk, finds herself constantly outpaced and outsmarted, by the titular society, by the love interest, and by her villainous father. Not once does she get to be heroic on her own terms, and she's so baldly horny for Ned that her internal refrain of "well-I-never" gets dull.
So. Janky start. But I think the world of Wisteria has some real promise--I'd be interested in reading a short fiction anthology delving more into the lore of historical Lady Scoundrels and the senior ladies.
Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, and Sexism
A teenaged character and young adult character have a sexual relationship. It is played for comedy, with the younger character repeatedly lying about her age and the adult acting distraught about the revelation. Characters drink on several occasions and a character gets drunk without real consent or awareness that alcohol will intoxicate her; this character vomits while drunk. The backstory of a character involves being abandoned by his parents. The lower class characters are usually fearful, superstitious, and deemed foolish. Most characters are kidnapped and imprisoned. The backstory of multiple characters involve their mothers being murdered in front of them. The main character's aunt is controlling and overbearing. Alcohol and cocaine pastilles are used by characters. A verbal spar of two characters involves multiple fatphobic remarks. Most characters have and use guns with murderous intent, though no one dies from a gunshot in the text. There is cousin marriage. The villain's primary motivation is named as misogyny. There is a chapter dedicated to a sex scene (Chapter 20).iamsammie27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death of parent and Blood
Moderate: Murder, Abandonment, Misogyny, and Sexism
j_squaredd's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Drug use, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Death of parent