Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Good House by Tananarive Due

11 reviews

elisepage's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Sexual violence

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

Parts of this story really dragged or they really rushed. The ending was arguably the strongest part of the story and also the most enjoyably paced. Other parts felt like the supernatural element was breaking its own rules. The nastiness can infect anyone who leaves a piece of them in this specific location. But it only infected about five characters including one person who was nowhere near anyone else. That one person got more infected than anybody else and murdered someone tangentially connected to the main characters. Thankfully the dog either did not die or the death was not described, which is a rare mercy in horror fiction. The horses also did not experience any on-page tragedy. There are references to needing chicken blood and paper made from the vagina of an animal. 
There was a dark spot that I didn't appreciate reading. It was where a character faked, and later admitted to doing so, a sexual assault between themselves and an antagonist solely to get one of the main characters to act with violence. I just don't think "fake sexual assault" is a scene that is needed in literature published after the 1990's.
This story is somewhat effective in the 'gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss' nature of horror stories.

You spend most of the story wondering if the Big Bad got Corey and you find out in chapter 33 that Corey committed suicide to prevent the Big Bad from getting what they wanted. "With all his strength, Corey Toussaint Hill won his last fight.

Two sets of characters have whirlwind relationships that end, of course, tragically. It feels a bit cheap and scripted to do it twice in the story and I am a bit resentful of how one of the relationships is ended. The ending of that relationship is action-packed but very quick

Myles is watching over Angela while she does a ritual and tries to defend her against Tariq. Myles is shot once in the body and finished off with a gunshot to the head, presumably.

It was a cheap way to include a "strip the main character of all hope" moment. 
The last two chapters threw me for a loop at first.

The ending is Angela's ancestors giving her a miracle. It is not stated what the miracle is but the final chapters show Corey, Sean, and Angela breaking the curse and banishing the Big Bad. Then the party on July 4th proceeds as planned, with fireworks, dancing, and merriment. Angela decides that she no longer has feelings for Tariq and will proceed with the divorce. Angela and Myles promise to keep in touch. Therefore the miracle is making it so the violence from the Big Bad never happened.

It is a unique way to wrap up a story and one that can often feel very cheap. With this specific story it felt welcome. It almost felt like walking into your childhood home, but the one of your memories and not the actual building. These last two chapters were the most effective for me as a reader. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, and Gun violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Car accident, Animal death, Sexual content, Drug use, Infidelity, and Bullying

chloesnotscared's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Suicide

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship

littlelili1320's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

I love this book  I wasn't expecting the ending, It is a bit slow at times, but it reminds me of Stephen King where he tends to have parts that drag but if it was cut you wouldn't know the characters nearly as well. It also reminds me of King because some repetition could have been cut lol.  I would have liked more of Marie's timeline, but overall the timeline & character jumping was enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Racism, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Addiction, and Racial slurs

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

cassilynn's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

at end. This is a long book, with audio narrative at 22 hours. I almost didn't read it cause I saw slow-paced, which meant I'd likely lose interest and tune it out. That was not the case. Definitely medium paced, but engaging enough to keep you invested. I appreciate that. I don't feel there was much filling text. The audio narrator, Robin Miles,  was amazing, with the voice changes. I often get lost when there are multiple characters if the narrator doesn't pitch their voice for each one. I normally don't want a HEA in my spooky books, but this one was well deserved. I will look for more books by this author as this was my first book of hers. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying and Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty and Adult/minor relationship

kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Suicide, Child death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual content

deirdrelk's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. It was just the right mix of supernatural thriller and family saga. I love and appreciate that it was about a Black family; diversity is frustratingly limited in this genre. Some of the descriptive writing was drawn out and   oddly sexual at times when it didn’t seem warranted, but overall the writing was good. The story was much darker than I expected. If you have trouble reading about violence against children, I would be careful with this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Child death, Murder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

officialmcnugget's review against another edition

dark inspiring 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

4.5

Would have been 5 stars without the threat of sexual violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Suicide, Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Racial slurs, Murder, Racism, Domestic abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Excrement and Injury/Injury detail

carli_likes_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Child death

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Drug use

keenanmaree's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Dementia, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts