Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Þernan by Nita Prose

36 reviews

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed this book, the plot twist at the end really surprised me!  I don't think I've read a book before with the point-of-view of someone who is autistic (or at least heavily implied to be) - which is great representation for Neurodiverse folks. The depiction was well written, although I believe it fell into quite a few stereotypes - which took away from that slightly. Overall a good book :) 

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

   Molly, a neurodivergent maid, finds the rich and mean Mr. Black dead in his bed. It turns out he was murdered. And Molly ends up under suspicion for his murder. But some of the people at the hotel are not who they seem. And they may have used Molly's neurodivergence to their advantage. 
   I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I know some said it was inconsistent, but I find that, as a neurodivergent person, I can see how her seemingly very shifting rules don't shift as much as they seem to do to some people. I know that certain rules in my mind are different than how a "normal" person may have their rules. And once you get to the end it all makes sense, at least to me. 
   I didn't guess the killer, though I guess another one of the "plot twists" (the one with her grandmother.)

Narrator Rating: 3.5 stars
  She did a decent job but for most of the book she had kind of pout to her voice which was childlike and annoying for a 20-something woman.

Elemental Levels:  Fluff-3.5/5  Heartfelt-3/5   Helpful-NA     Horror-NA  Inspiration-NA  
Love aka Romance-2/5   Mystery-5/5     Predictability-2.5/5   Spice-NA    Suspense-2/5    Tear- 3/5  Thrill-1.5/5  Humor-1/5 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Nunca pensé que la protagonista de un murder mystery iba a darle un abrazo reconfortante a mi yo adolescente. Con algunas diferencias, pero menos de las que me gustaría...
Ha sido un viaje interesante. Gracias por tanto, Molly.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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

I would not have expected to enjoy this book, but I adored it! The writer wrote in such a way, that I could relate to Molly thoroughly, despite not having much in common. She did an excellent job of making the book feel very real and made me empathise with Molly. I felt every emotion reading this book to be honest and I read it in just two sittings because it was amazing.

Molly is a sweet person and I hated everyone who took advantage of her, or mistreated her. I absolutely despise Rodney and Cheryl.  I love Juan Manuel, Mr Preston and Charlotte Preston - they were absolute gems. Also, I felt Molly’s grief when she spoke of her Nan: Her Nan sounded like an amazing person.


I will admit it isn’t my favourite book, my favourite book is Pride and Prejudice but I gave it a 5 stars because I don’t understand why people are so stingy with their ratings lol. It was interesting to read, I was never bored and many of the characters are likeable :). 

I’m surprised by the number of people giving this book low ratings!! Most of them are saying  autism is not portrayed correctly in the main character, but in my opinion there is not explicitly a right or wrong way. Autism is a spectrum and are there are countless types of autism, I am sure there are people who have similar thoughts to Molly - but if not, it is just a character and the author never explicitly mentioned autism.

EDIT: Changed my review from 5 stars to 4 stars because it’s not one of my favourite books and I haven’t thought of it, or the characters since, but now that I remember, I did love a lot of the characters so I’ve changed my mind and give it 4.75 stars lol. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious 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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional lighthearted 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

Read it in one evening. Several chuckles. Nice to see a neurodiverse character. A bit cheesy at times but there were some twists I didn’t expect and a lovely message of embracing who you are. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

I appreciate that the main character is neuro-divergent.  It made for an interesting twist on the typical murder mystery.  It was also informative on the struggles that someone whose behavior is considered abnormal might have to deal with on a day to day basis.  

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