Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke

13 reviews

ghostams's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book! It was a really interesting take on folklore, magic, and science! I have to say up until the last 50 or so pages, I wasn’t sure which way the plot was leaning which is really impressive! This was a book equally heart-wrenching and heart-warming. One that, in my opinion, is a truly unique take on the subjects it contains!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Religious bigotry, Gore, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Child death, Death, Murder, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, and Abandonment

Minor: Torture, Vomit, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Car accident, Sexual assault, Rape, and Medical content

graceev's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cancer, Car accident, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Alcohol, and Rape

Minor: Drug use

Sister disappeared, Smoking, Missing people

spookyaz's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Drug use, Cancer, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Torture

fionamatilda's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Cancer, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Violence, Abandonment, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death and Drug use

chopspy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A mystery horror thriller with themes of witch trials and family. As well as the inescapable passage of time. 

The mystery itself had me hooked and I only understood it when the story wanted to.

It blends multiple character perspectives really well and overall is well paced.

The characters themselves feel human, especially those that make mistakes and grow from it.

Talking about you Liv

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

julieyael's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was a wonderful read. Not a real horror book to my opinion, more an eery and mysterious one. 
The setting is quite ominous, and we feel something is off but the plot twist is hard to guess. 

The characters have enough background to be interesting and the story is well written. 
Some typically Scottish words were sometimes hard for me (I am not a native english speaker), but it was interesting to learn things😉

I did not rate this book with 5 stars because in my opinion some parts of the plot remains blurry. Also at times, some characters are acting in a not so logical way and I found it annoying. 

But other than that I fell in love with this book and probably will read it again in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Murder, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Grief, Torture, Rape, and Alcohol

blklagoon's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Genocide, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Rape, Gore, Cursing, Abandonment, Terminal illness, and Sexual violence

pollyhall's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

The atomsphere was done well, at times it had me wanting to visit the Scottish Highlands and other times I didn't want to have anything to do with it. I picked up the book and didn't put it down till I was finished.  I loved the character of Basil and his interactions with the girls and the fisherman. Emotionally this book will have you all over the place there are funny sweet parts and other parts that will have you scratching your head in disbelief that people can do things like this to each other.
At the being it was a little confusing with all the points of views. I had to go back and look at the heading of the sections do see who was speaking. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Deportation, Gore, Infertility, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Abandonment, Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

amelia_d's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

There are elements of the book that I like, and I didn't struggle to read it at all or find it boring but I felt like the writing was a little repetitive at times and spelled stuff out to the reader too much. 
I also wasn't a fan of how the plot developed, I won't explain how as I would have to spoil things that happen late in the book. But overall I was quite disappointed. Loved idea of it from the description before I read it but the execution just wasn't for me I suppose.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Murder, Child death, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, and Drug use

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

A book about a lighthouse on a Scottish island and witches with a beautiful cover? I had to give it a try. But this was so much darker than I expected. 

The story is told from multiple points of view in 3 different timelines.
In 1662 several women on a small Scottish island are accused of being witches and executed. Before dying, one of these women curses the island and its inhabitants.
In 1998 Liv and her 3 daughters Clover (7), Luna (9) and Sapphire (15) come to the island, where Liv is hired to paint a mural inside the Longing, the 100 years old lighthouse built at the spot where the witches were imprisoned during their trial. Soon after their arrival, strange things begin to happen and Liv's children start disappearing. 
In 2021 Luna is still searching for her 2 lost sisters, when she gets the message that Clover has been found...

I really enjoyed the atmosphere on the island, it's history and the mystery. But there were some really dark themes here, and a lot of scenes were very hard to read, even for me. So definitely check trigger warnings beforehand. 
There were aspects of the story I did not expect at first but was pleasantly surprised by them. I think they are handled really well and lead to a satisfying conclusion. I liked how the story is plottet, and how you slowly realize what is happening. But it's heartbreaking. I think I cried straight through the last 20-30% of the book just thinking about it. 
This story shows perfectly how the irrational fear of something you don't understand can cause a lot of pain for a lot of people, even generations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Confinement, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Drug use, and Murder