Reviews tagging 'Death'

My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham

26 reviews

trashboatwinter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

personally, i couldn’t connect with these characters. i felt like the writing wasn’t the greatest especially in certain dialogue with finch constantly stumbling over words. selena and finch’s dynamic i felt like changed super quickly. selena went from hating her to having a crush on her super quickly. there really wasn’t any building there and it left me disappointed. i was super excited to read a sapphic horror, but it just felt slow and the writing didn’t feel great :(

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analog_librarian's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0


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alyxisreading's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

3.75

I decided to pick this up on a whim since it's spooky season, and I also adore sapphic novels. I genuinely really loved the book and how the author portrayed Finch. It was also an easy read and the characters were enjoyable (except Kyra because c'mon girl). The author doesn't go far into depth in terms of learning more about the characters, which I'm okay with but I probably would have rated this book higher if we got more info. The other reason I didn't rate it 4 stars was that the characters took forever to connect what the antagonist's actual intentions were, and I think that the author could have spent more of that time adding backstory and info about the antagonist/characters (especially the librarian who I honestly think has so much potential) or even clearing up some plot holes (What happened to Victor? Why did the antagonist need to restart herp process when the previous group did most of the work?)

Even with that in mind, I genuinely thought the book had so much promise and while some things lacked, it was still a great and easy read during the spooky season!

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mahitdzmare's review against another edition

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

3.5


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morethanmylupus's review against another edition

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

1.5


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aesnthcs's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0


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applejacksbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I thoroughly enjoyed this book start to finish. I love the dark academia, thriller-y vibes of the story, but I wish there was a little more suspense built into it. Finch and Selena are adorable together, and I am happy with the ending overall.

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thetinytrashcan's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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? No

4.25

For a debut novel this book is executed extremely well. I loved all the characters in the book and appropriated that all the ensemble characters had important roles to play in the plot. Though most of the characters could have been explored more I never felt that any of them were bland or unnecessary which made me fall in love with this book. I loved the premise presented in the summary and found that the book did a pretty good job executing the lore of the story and presented background information in interesting ways that kept me engaged the whole time. The only reason this is book lost points in my book is because it wasn’t as much of a dark story as the summary presented and I don’t feel that it completely reached the mood it was trying to create.

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meleac07's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

This book was absolutely BRILLIANT!! I fell into this reality with the characters and found myself connected and drawn to each character for all of their quirks and complexities. Each character was unique and so well thought out. I can not put into words the joy I felt from reading this. Coming from a queer person, the representation in this book is such a breath of fresh air. This book put me through a rollercoaster of emotions. From the cheesiest of lines to the most grotesque scenes, I found myself utterly swept away by the beauty and tangibility of Kayla Cottingham’s writing. So excited to read whatever she puts out next.

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diadoodle's review against another edition

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

4.0


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