Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson

3 reviews

mafaichney's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

beesbookhaunts's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

We follow Sarah as she joins a remote artists’ retreat after leaving an abusive relationship. She discovers that the old mansion everyone is forbidden from entering has secrets of its own. 

This book is A Lot. Each character has an extreme personality, verging into caricature territory. There’s a misogynistic man who expects Sarah to clean up after him, a goth girl who wears only black and takes morbid pictures, a costume designer who doesn’t wear modern clothing-and more. The descriptions  of these characters provides levity as Sarah discovers the extremely dark past of the resort, and unpacks her own abusive relationship. These details are much darker and upsetting than the rest of the book, which made me appreciate the light-hearted sections.

The contrast was sometimes quite jarring, and the first detailed description of sexual assault caught me off guard.

 

Overall I enjoyed it, but it felt long and sometimes repetitive. I’ve attached trigger warnings so please check them before picking this up! 

Thanks to the publisher, I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Misogyny, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Gore

jerichamacie's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but the ending really soured it for me. It was such a slow burn then suddenly all the action is crammed into the last 20 pages. A lot of things never make sense or just didn't need to happen at all. 

The eerie woodland gothic vibe was great, the main character was kind of insufferable and judgey. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, and Abortion