Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

63 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

• 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

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I really enjoyed the Cinder Series and I enjoy how Marissa does her re-tellings. I struggled with the Gilded Series and the Renegades Series. But I enjoyed this standalone. 
 

This book is based on the Queen of Hearts. Before she got the Queen of Hearts title, she was Catherine Pinkerton, and she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. She was one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favourite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. She is a talented baker and all she wants to do is open a bakery with her best friend. But according to her mother, having a goal like that is unthinkable for a young woman who could be the next queen. Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter an intense and secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness and monsters, it looks like fate has other plans. 

This is one of the times where all I wanted to do throughout this whole book is hug Cath and smack the shit out of her parents, like multiple times. All she wanted to do was to have her own life and open her own bakery. Yet her parents wanted her to marry off the power and status in the country. I just love how badass she got and how he learned to stand up for herself during this book. I love that she wanted to fight for everyone but also learned that she can’t save anyone. The storyline was strong and that you lose the fact that she’s not the villain until towards the end, but at the beginning she’s just this doe-eyed girl who had dreams and wishes. Jest was adorable and wanted more of him and his ending made me bawl my eyes out.  

I would have loved for this book to be a dual POV, I would have loved to have seen how the Jest felt. I would have loved some more romance as well; it was a very quick and painful relationship, and I would have loved to be a bit slower and more romance.  

This book made me root for the villain for the first time and I would love more books where the villain is the face of it all.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Minor: War and Suicide

kyra_johnson_'s review

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

It took me a little bit to get into the book, but once we really got to see Jest and Cath’s relationship develop, I was invested. It was hard to read (emotionally) because the ending is in a way already known, but that didn’t stop me from reading it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Minor: Classism

beklovesbooks's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Similar to Cruella or Maleficent, it’s the unexpected backstory of a character. True to the book and Alice in Wonderland movie, there are many overlapping characters. Powerful love story. Twists, turns, whimsy, fun, tension, creepy. Well done, though I might prefer to rewrite some sections and outcomes myself.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity, and Murder

kibberbl's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming

henleymadelyn's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming and Emotional abuse

eya_caloca's review

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Death

ash_ton's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

it took me so long to read this book 1) because i had to stop to read books that were due at the library soon and a book club book, and 2) because i skimmed through the ending TWICE and it made me depressed and anxious lol. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Death

Minor: Fatphobia

her_littleclouds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

they deserved so much better(side note the body shaming and fatphobia in this book was not needed under any circumstance and should have been left out)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Death

abby_can_read's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

📱
This was a book that I enjoyed reading. I think Meyer's writing style is more fairytale inspired than fairytale retelling. I would say this book was a combination of prophecy, romance, Victorian-era gender roles, and the weirdness that can only be found in Wonderland. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gore, Violence, Death, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Gaslighting, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Body shaming, Animal death, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: War and Kidnapping

kaziaroo's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Body shaming, Blood, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, and Murder

Minor: War and Gore