Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl

8 reviews

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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fast-paced

4.0

Thoroughly enjoyed this and liked the ending as well. 
Loved seeing immortal teen girls kicking a little bit of ass and doing a found family. 
Would def read more from this author.
There could be some trigger/content warnings so maybe check those out.

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mx_virg's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

3.0

I loved the premise and really wanted to like this book. And the base elements are there. I liked the characters, the way they come together, how the plot progresses. I like that a big part of the book focuses on female friendships. I enjoyed reading it, but I don't think much will stick with me for long.

The world building is really lacking here. How can vampires just carelessly go through the world, killing people left and right, in this day and age? The number of people they kill to feed on isn't small, and yet it's never really a concern. Nothing really is, aside from the main villain. We're given just enough to understand why things have to happen the way they do, nothing more. The vampire thing feels more like a b-plot, we're not given enough info and I wasn't that invested or interested when vampiry stuff happened as a result.

The romance started out cute, but became bland from the half-way point. And even though I liked the ending, the twists felt unnecessary and created if not plot holes, at least more questions that we won't get answers to (because we're given so little info to begin with). The writing didn't help. It wasn't bad, but didn't pull me in either.

So yeah, it's a "meh" read for me, but one I still enjoyed. I'd love to read a book on how our heroines carve a life for themselves, together, from here on out. 

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longlost's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

mmm. i really wanted to like this book. like many other reviewers i was sold on the Sapphic Vampire Revenge Story premise and while there were parts of the book that really spoke to me and made me feel like it was worth reading, the parts that bothered me were.... a bit too Much to gloss over in favour of what i did like about it. 

the good: hartl's brand of dark humour used to tell this story made it feel very engaging to me, but that's very much personal taste. i liked the characters - the core vampire trio (later quartet) were easy to love for their quirks and i found what we did learn about their backstories and histories to be genuinely interesting and at times heartbreaking. holly's issues w/ her mother also really spoke to me when they did become front and centre, and i liked
the resolution with her mother in their final scene together.
ive never really been that invested in vampire stories so im going into this world with the basics of vampire knowledge, but i really enjoyed the work hartl put into worldbuilding regarding the vampire lore. when i picked up the book to continue reading i was as much interested in seeing where the characters would go next as in how the world and the rules behind vampirism would be unraveled. which sucks because the stuff im going to talk about next really ruined whatever good aspects those parts had.

the bad (and the Ugly): so. the entire premise of the book is the three girls who were coerced by the main villain - a vampire creep who preys on vulnerable, isolated teenagers - teaming up to kill him so he can't ensnare anymore victims. and then we spend the entire book developing a romance between holly and parker of which the inherent weirdness of it is never really acknowledged ? like yea, we know that holly genuinely cares because we're reading things from her point of view and there's a lot of emphasis on how being Turned pauses you at that point in time meaning that holly is Technically still 16 but. it is just, not that simple ? she's been existing for like 30 years and parker is. a teenager. maybe there could have been ways to approach it well but here it just felt.... extremely brushed over despite a major plot point of the story being how the villain did similar things to the main character & her friends. the romance felt kinda bland too but tbf i was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until the out of nowhere underage sex scene which very nearly made the book a DNF for me but there wasnt much of the story left at that point and i wanted to keep to my rule about having read a book in full before writing an in-depth review like this and i felt like these issues were glaring enough that they needed to be discussed in context of the story which is. as explained, never really addressed by the author other than holly being like "oh no if we date parker will eventually grow old and die" which. doesn't even begin to address the juxtaposition between the entire revenge plot and holly and parker's relationship. the overall ending seems to be contentious from reading other reviews here but tbh at that point id disengaged emotionally so i dont have any real thoughts on that. 

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lupitabaeyongo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? No

3.75


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kay_w's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25


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stormywolf's review

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

2.0

Another YA pick for Maven's Vampire Book Club, and a shorter one at that. Mainly this was due to scheduling issues that cropped up in January, pushing back the official discussion of that month's book a couple weeks, so she figured a shorter option would be easier to slot in and get things back on track. Besides the length, and the GoodReads blurb citing "dark humor and queer love," I really didn't know anything going in. Would this vampire story edge more cutsie, or have some real bite?

Read my full review at The Wolf's Den 

Overall, I don't know how to recommend this one. On the one hand, I think it has fun characters, it does some interesting things with vampire mythology, and does a good job examining regret and how it influences us. But on the other hand, I had issues with its shallow characterizations, its unsatisfying ending, and its handling of toxic relationships. I think there are some good messages and important things addressed, but I also think it missed the mark with a lot of things. I suppose if you're interested in a bittersweet, queer, quirky, YA vampire romance story and not wanting anything too complex or detailed, this might be what you're looking for. As for myself, I'll be hoping for some lighter fare with a lower body count. 

 

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btorsi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

if i had a nickel for every book i read in 2022 so far that mentioned ripping out someone's eyes and eating them, i'd have two nickels. which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened twice.

a fun read. super engaging. interesting world building. a check off my tbr. not the kind of book i'm going to be thinking about nonstop after i finished it, but not bad. just. good. 

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toralea32's review against another edition

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

4.25


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