Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Pine by Francine Toon

31 reviews

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

4.0

An eerie thrilling mystery set in a small village n the Scottish Highlands.
  
On a Halloween night Lauren and her father, Niall,  pick up a woman stumbling on the road. In the morning, she's gone. 
  
Lauren feels a familiarness to the woman, who supernaturally turns up at odd times. Niall drinks to forget. Forget that his wife is gone. To forget the whispers of the village about him.
  
When a local woman goes missing in familiar circumstances, Lauren looks for answers, to find her friend, and her mother.
  
I found this a gripping, eerie, thriller that feels like a fog starts to fall and becomes heavier with each chapter until the very end. The build up to the ending was long, and the ending abrupt, but I found myself holding my breath and thinking I was in that village.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Bullying

eiriee's review

dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Death of parent

_egg_wash's review against another edition

mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Death, and Addiction

Minor: Confinement, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Vomit, and Cursing

jaymc's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal death and Emotional abuse

wynberries's review

dark emotional 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, and Alcoholism

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Honestly, I felt this book was a little flat. I was really looking forward to this and in the end it didn't do much for me. I felt like all the interesting things were happening without the main characters ever actually being all that involved. There was a lot of scope to make this a chilling supernatural thriller but it didn't quite get there. 

<Spoiler> I also found the part where a teenager calls a ten year old a lesbian as an insulating hugely off putting. I know it's not uncommon for that to happen but it felt so out of place and made me quite uncomfortable. </Spoiler>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Grief, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Animal death, Alcohol, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

beca_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

4.25

This book is eerie and gothic, honestly I've not many other books that feel this atmospheric. I would say that this book is not marketed properly, as I was sold it as a thriller but I would say it is Gothic Horror. Not an awful lot happens in this book, but the description of Scotland  and the forest alone is brilliant. Mental health, yet not directly mentioned is dealt with within the book, as well as poverty. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Lesbophobia

my_plant_library's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Bullying

Moderate: Grief, Animal death, Murder, and Kidnapping

nenaveenstra's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

Not much happens in this book, except towards the end, but still it was eerie in a way that I kinda like. I did come to some conclusions very quickly that the characters seemingly didn't want to believe or were too dumb to, and I didn't love that. Also I think there could've been more focus on the magical/supernatural part of things.

I did learn some Scottish slang along the way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Bullying

Moderate: Violence and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia

hanaem's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Body horror