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Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
76 reviews
booksbutmakeitgay's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Classism, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.5
"The Last Tale of the Flower Bride" follows a man who believes in fairy tales and his beautifully mysterious wife, Indigo. They believed they would have their happily ever after, as long as Indigo's Groom promised to never pry into her dark and elusive past. When they are forced to return to her childhood home, the lure of learning more about Indigo is too much, and he starts to investigate what Indigo is hiding, and what happened to her childhood best friend, Azure.
This book is beautifully written to be both hauntingly gothic and atmospheric. My favorite chapters were from Azure's perspective from when she and Indigo were young. Their magic and fairy games were so elaborate and the world they created was vivid and entertaining to read about.
Indigo is a highly unlikable character, in my opinion. She is a bully and manipulates those around her so that she can have the things she wants most. There are some scenes with Indigo, Azure, and a girl who just wants to be friends with them, and Indigo takes her eagerness to please the duo too far. Indigo is the epitome of a toxic friend, and it took Azure too long in my opinion to start to poke holes in Indigo's motives. I know they were young, but Azure and everyone else deserved better. Having an unlikely main character is always risky in my opinion, and in this case it slightly hindered my enjoyment of the story.
I think it is interesting to learn the stories of Indigo's and Azure's childhoods as her groom is uncovering the secrets of the house in the present, however, reading from his perspective was not my favorite. I felt like he was a flat character and did not add much to the story. Additionally, his motivation for snooping (trying to see his brother again) did not feel urgent or authentic enough to me.
Overall, this book was slightly higher than middle of the road for me. I am intrigued, and I am interested to pick up more from Roshani Chokshi in the future.
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Bullying
Moderate: Death and Child death
Minor: Domestic abuse and Pedophilia
daniquevdijk_'s review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Grief and Gore
howlinglibraries's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
You said: "If you pry, you'll destroy our marriage." But oh, my love, you lied.
I'm disappointed to say that I didn't enjoy The Last Tale of the Flower Bride until the final 15-20%, and even then, it never redeemed itself from a dreary, bland start and characters that I found it impossible to care about.
We start off with the bridegroom's POV as we learn how he and Indigo came to marry, and it is a painfully instantaneous romance that holds no chemistry or depth whatsoever. Instead of character development, the narrative was comprised primarily of one fairytale reference after another, and I felt like I was being beaten over the head with blunt metaphors. As someone who typically loves purple prose, this was a rare experience in which the writing veered far past whimsical and into the territory of downright pretentiousness for me.
After a bit, the story begins to alternate between the bridegroom and Azure, his wife's childhood friend, and while the plot developing within her segments was far more interesting, I struggled with the fact that the writing did not differ in any way whatsoever between their inner monologues.
On top of the previous issues mentioned, I feel obligated to mention how predictable the twist was; I literally guessed it within the first 10% of the book, even down to the outline of how it played out in the end. I typically don't knock off stars for predictability because I know I'm the type of reader who guesses twists often, and that doesn't always act as a negative against the writing; still, in this case, it only added to my boredom. I would have set this book aside early on, if not for the fact that I became determined to see if I had guessed correctly.
It genuinely hurts me to write this review because The Last Tale of the Flower Bride held so much potential and I think, in another writer's hands, it could have been a perfect read for me, but the writing is what held this story back in every possible way. I can fully understand how this book has been popular with so many readers in the brief time since it was released, and I expect it will find a great deal more fans from here on, but unfortunately, I'm not one of them.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
✨ Representation: Indigo, Azure, and Tati are BIPOC (no specific mentions of their ethnicities, one brief mention of Azure being uncertain of her ethnicity)
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Terminal illness and Gore
ohennui's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content
scarlett_f's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
Minor: Blood, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Animal death, Grief, Gun violence, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, and Stalking
With a flower bride comes flowery language.bibookworm's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Blood
writingcaia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
The narrative is enchanting and eery, dark and wondrous. It’s gothic and romantic.
The book gives us several fairy tales that intertwine with this tale someway or another.
A friendship and a love story in two timelines.
Two pasts wanting to come to light. The bridegroom wants to find his, and his bride to hide hers, but eventually both will come to light and the outcome is a twist that I did see come, but nonetheless gave me the finale I wished for.
After The Gilded Wolves and now this one, I can’t wait to read everything YA and adult the writer brings us.
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Minor: Emotional abuse
lit_with_lauren's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Pedophilia and Child abuse
totallypercyjackson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship