Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

12 reviews

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Colonisation, War, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Sexual content

chocolatethief's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Blood, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, Gaslighting, and Gore

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Classism, War, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

emilysreadingbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, War, Drug use, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Alcohol, Classism, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Confinement, Genocide, and Fire/Fire injury

lovelymisanthrope's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

I received a beautiful edition of this book in a Fairyloot box.
"Violet Made of Thorns" is a tantalizing story about Violet, a prophet for the royal family, and Prince Cyrus. Violet and Cyrus have grown up in close proximity together, but they have lived very different lives. Violet's entire job is to see the future and help the royal family make the best decisions to rule their people, while Cyrus has been groomed to take over the throne. Violet and Cyrus have a lot of tension between them, and they seem to have to epitome of a love hate relationship. Can Violet and Cyrus work together to realize their true fates?
I was pleasantly surprised by how captivated I was by this story! Violet is a strong, capable woman who is stuck between a rock and a hard place with her role as the royal prophet. I loved seeing her walk the line between respecting the royal family and pushing back on their hardheadedness. The king saved her and she feels obligated to help him, but she does not know if that is the "right" thing.
Cyrus and Violet have amazing chemistry. I am normally not a huge enemies-to-lovers trope fan, but I am a huge childhood-friends-to-lovers trope fan. You cannot help but root for Cyrus and Violet.
I am SO excited to pick up the sequel to this story and see how the rest of Cyrus's and Violet's stories unfold. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship

chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

To begin with this was a fun fantasy: a prickly cynical heroine; fun fortune telling magic; fate v fairies Enchanted Woods mystery. However the ending felt a bit messy and I struggled with some of the characters motives.

Loved the side characters of Camilla and Dante. A Camilla book I would read. But Violets motivations and end choices were very muddled in the final part. The opptunities for Cyrus and Violet to have chatacter growth remained lost in their powerplay pretty toxic relationship. The attraction, lust and hate aspects were covered, but the caring part was definitly missing.

Also missed any characterisation of the villain, which would have been enjoyable.

I think this is a not for me book sadly. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

tak_everlasting's review against another edition

dark

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

1.0

An insult to fairytales, anyone who has ever liked anyone romantically, and, most egregriously, me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Self harm, Sexual content, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, War, Colonisation, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Violence, Drug use, and Addiction

kbairbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Holy WOW. Oh my gosh I couldn’t put this down!! This is the BEST fairytale retelling I have EVER read. Wow I am… speechless. Is there a book two in the works? Has Gina Chen written anything else? I’m like… itching for more 😂 I need more. Period.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Gore, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Classism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual content

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

A dark fantastical YA novel that gets you emotionally attached like thorns on a vine.
  
Violet saved a boys life when they were children, she didn't know he was a Prince. As adults they are begrudgingly close and in each others lives, Cyrus as the Prince soon to become King, and Violet, the city's seer.
  
When the King tells Violet to falsely prophesize the upcoming wedding of Cyrus, she is plagued by the fates dark tellings of the future. 
  
With the fates future unravelling before them, Violet uses her wits to protect herself but ends up having to make a deadly choice.
  
Although this was a really great storyline, with great characters, the ending felt quite rushed (this is book one of a duology), and was very anticlimactic.
  
I wanted to love the characters but they lack depth and substance, like they just existed and you already knew them. (Is Camilla just a high maintenance Princess that just likes to eat cake and enjoys balls? Would she want to be Queen? Why does the King want to expand the kingdom? Greed? What do the fairies feel about the woods being burnt?) So much potential and hope that book two brings it. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Toxic relationship, Death, Blood, and Murder

kels_18's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm

Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing