Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

462 reviews

loveandolive's review against another edition

challenging dark funny inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, and Death

cavernism's review against another edition

dark funny sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Definitely the darkest of Grady Hendrix's books I've read, and maybe the most horrifying, and not in a fun romp sort of way. Read the content warning tags before you dive in- I really wish I had, because I was expecting a different tone based on Hendrix's other books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gaslighting, Child death, Suicide, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Rape, Animal death, and Racism

andreyuhh's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The first few chapters of this book are a bit mundane & I was honestly dreading having to finish it. Now I’m starting to wonder if that’s exactly what the author was going for based on the characters. Once it picks up, boy does it PICK UP! You’ll go through a roller coaster of emotions all the while being kept on your toes. I highly recommend everyone reading it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Murder, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, and Violence

erinnow's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

Frightening and gross at times as to be expected but also moving and insightful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Gaslighting and Domestic abuse

blacksphinx's review against another edition

Ever been so mad at someone you attempt suicide at them? Me neither. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Racism, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Death of parent

Graphic: Eaten alive by a rat Moderate: Lynching, being buried alive, 10 year old white boy obsessed with Nazis.

dfram's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

the characters were well written and the plot was interesting! i absolutely hate men and i love that this book proves me right for it 😌 the full circle vibe on the last chapter was everything i wanted this ending to be! i was expecting more fantasy than i got

and i was expecting less girl boss energy than i got, that was a pleasant surprise

i liked the writing style and the longer chapters! i also am a big fan of all the foreshadowing!!! overall, a good pick for this month

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gaslighting, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Sexism, Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Infidelity, Medical content, Animal cruelty, and Drug use

averageawkwardasian's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

3.5

Listened to audiobook narrated by Bahni Turpin. 

Overall fun and entertaining with a enjoyable imprecation of the vampire troupe. Love the female lead and female centric supporting cast. 

Narrator basically saved the book for me. Around the 75% mark it feels the story is dragging too long too much.

Putting a 3-year gap in the plot before the plot twist makes it difficult to stay engaged to the book.

If it wasn't for the entertaining performance of the narrator I would have dropped it. Huge kudos to Bahni Turpin.

Upon review I realized it is littered with triggers. While most are relevant to the plot, some are graphic enough I found mildly unsettling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Body horror, Racism, Rape, Gaslighting, Violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexism, Gore, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Infidelity, Child death, Death, and Suicide

hannahhmh's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Mental illness, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Classism, Suicide, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual violence, Gore, Excrement, Blood, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Death of parent, Sexism, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Body horror, and Alcoholism

ging090803'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I didn't have any expectations. I wanted a little read and that's what I found. 
It starts pretty slow and there isn't a lot of action except by the end. There are a few disturbing scenes, especially toward the end. 
I felt one big emotion throughout the book and it was anger.

It angered me how she was always victimized, never believed, how her husband and kids treated her

. Even though there isn't a lot of action, it is still a fluid read. I wish it had been more energetic: the detective work wasn't really detective work. It was more of a "I know that's all" which was kinda "ok". Though, I liked how vampires were pictures.

Always alive/truly immortal, no fangs, can go into the sun... Not the usual vampire

and I also liked how friendship was portrayed. 
Even though most of it felt superficial

it was easy for them to turn their backs on others the minute they disagreed on something

, you can see how the women shared a deeper connection between themselves even if, by appearance, they didn't share anything in common. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Death, Dementia, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Racism, Excrement, Murder, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, and Vomit

chelbelle122's review against another edition

DNF @ 50%

This book should come with a trigger warner for mansplaining.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Racism, Suicide attempt, Cannibalism, Sexism, Suicide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Body horror, Murder, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Misogyny, Violence, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Gore