Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

10 reviews

aparker89's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

Wow! I just could not put this one down! I spent an entire day devouring this book and I imagine many others will too! I liked it so much- I plan on purchasing a hard copy in addition to the ebook! 
Absolutely fantastic writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Murder, Abandonment, Bullying, Gaslighting, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Blood, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Stalking, Terminal illness, Violence, Chronic illness, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic relationship

bookeduntil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Body horror, Sexism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual assault, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Incest, Cannibalism, Classism, Infertility, and Infidelity

cbookaddiction's review

dark mysterious tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Body horror, Child abuse, and Terminal illness

coobugz's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

So at first, my thoughts were ‘wtf am I reading?’ I’m not a big horror and ‘spooky book’ reader, and the first bit made me nervous. But the further I got into it, the harder it was for me to put the book down. In a way, it’s like a dark ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ mixed with a less haunting ‘The Shining.’ 
I appreciated the interspersed different POVs, and looked forward to the doctor’s POV/case notes. I felt defensive and protective of Roos, and have respect for Dr. Montague. Not gonna lie, Ruth weirds me out and pissed me off sometimes, but that’s plot for ya. 
A solid 2 claps for the ending and epilogue. 👏👏
I received the book through Goodreads giveaways as an advanced copy and was super excited to read it before the release date, and to give my first review. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Vomit, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death of parent, Incest, Murder, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Cursing, Cannibalism, and Infertility

emily_journals's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

This book was a really solid read and a strong debut novel and I will definitely have my eye on this author moving forward. 

I really enjoyed the inter-character relationships going on in this book and I really loved the world-building.  You can tell that the author really took time to develop the relationships in this book, especially those between Roos and Ruth and between Roos and Agnes. The ghost/spirit lore established in this book was so intriguing and unique. The level of intricacy in this lore of relating not only how someone dies, but where their body resides to how a spirit comes to be and has to be reawakened was really brilliantly done. 

As typically expected when reading a debut novel, there were some craft issues with this book. While I did really love the inter-character relationships in this book, I did think that the character development of singular characters could have been explored more. I also thought that the pacing of this book was a bit off, this book felt very slow and drawn out for the level of plot and character development that were happening within this book, but I think learning when to draw out or condense parts of a story typically come with practice so I'm usually a little more forgiving of debut authors on pacing. My biggest complaint about this book is that even though it was a horror novel and there was a level of anticipation as certain points, I felt that this book was greatly lacking in suspense. For me, the interview framing device was taking suspense out of this story rather than adding to it and I wish that the framing had been done a little differently so that I still felt suspense going through this story. 

Overall, this was a very strong debut and the character relationships and lore building generally outweighed the craft issues for me. 

ARC provided by NetGalley.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Moderate: Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Cursing, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Self harm, Murder, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Incest, Medical content, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Cannibalism, Child death, and Racism

Minor: Colonisation, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Animal death, Classism, and Drug use

love_and_lilacs's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

 3.5 STARS

My Darling Dreadful Thing hooked me almost immediately. I inhaled this book. I simply could not leave it unfinished. I had to know what happened. 

I have mixed feelings on the ending, though, which is often the case for me in this genre of work. I found the premise entirely enthralling, and the author's take on how someone becomes a spirit and lingers in this world was especially intriguing to me. I absolutely love, love, loved that idea. I would love to see it explored further. 

In general I found there were some minor continuity issues here and there, though nothing jumps out at me as totally distracting from the overall story. 

It should be said, this is not an easy book to read if you are sensitive to any number of topics. This is a gothic horror book through and through, dealing with the tough topics of sexual assault, homophobia, child abuse, racism, murder, and more, and probably some stuff I just plain forgot. So be aware of that if you intend to pick it up and give it a go. 

All-in-all, even with the less-than-satisfying ending, I'd still generally give a recommendation to gothic horror fans who can handle some rough subject matter. 

ARC provided by NetGalley 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

This is a gothic horror book and it is entirely about horrible and horrific things happening. Your definition of graphic may be different than mine. Please be advised that I may not have remembered every content warning, but I tried to remember the big ones.

pattytru08's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Child abuse

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Drug use, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Toxic friendship

kristinareadz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Bullying, Blood, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Terminal illness, Self harm, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Cultural appropriation, Racial slurs, and Gore

Minor: Sexual assault

natlren's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinons are my own :) 

My Darling Dreadful Thing is a visceral, haunting, and bloody novel rich with gothic themes and a sapphic romance that is equal parts bitter and sweet. I really enjoyed how the story within this one developed, especially as Roos' reliability as a narrator is called into question. 

What this book really succeeds at is making us second guess ourselves. Is Ruth real? Is Peter? Or were Agnes and Roos mentally ill women abused and traumatized by the men and the other powerful people in their lives? Ultimately, this book explores heavy themes of abuse and trauma and I loved watching Roos get to reclaim her autonomy from the people who have hurt her. 

Also worth mentioning is how stunning the prose within this novel is. Each word is as sharp as a shard of glass and I'm looking forward to seeing My Darling Dreadful Thing make its way into the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

Minor: Animal death

atlastheninth's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

I received a free ARC of this book and here's my honest review.

At the beginning the author writes: “If you strip down My Darling Dreadful Thing until nothing remains but its essence, you will not find a horrific secret at its very heart. You will find, instead, a love story.” And I could not say it better. 

 

Overall this was an enjoyable, easy flowing read. I liked the writing, I liked the characters an I liked the pacing. 

I also did enjoy the interview excerpts every other chapter but at the same time I felt like they took out some of the tension. 

 

The ending was nice, but a bit boring? The story just kind of ebbed off with no real climax. 

Personally I had hoped for something a bit more exciting and maybe that the question if the spirits are actually real would have been answered, but that's just my preference. 

 

"I know what she wants: to curl herself around me like a comma and press her gaping mouth to my throat so she can drink my blood." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Rape, and Child abuse

Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Misogyny