Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan

34 reviews

beth_dieroff's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Emotional abuse, Racism, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

my_weird_bookish_heart's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Confinement, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Classism

halfi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual assault

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Hate crime, Physical abuse, and Sexism

kp_writ's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

2.75

If you are looking at reviews before deciding to read: PLEASE for the love of god read the content warnings. It's rough. And because drugging and conversion therapy aren't included in Storygraph's list of content warnings, be prepared for those too.

I'll likely have to return to this review after I've digested some more, because dear god does this book give you a lot to digest. It was an easy read in that the writing style was good (if somewhat dialogue and narration-heavy) and each scene was quick and jumped straight into the next (a literal page-turner), but it was so beyond challenging in that the content was super dark. Thankfully this story never lets a plot point go without resolving it near immediately - one of the reasons it was such a page-turner, truly, but that was something that annoyed me quite a bit because it disrupted the tension and anticipation - but it really dragged on when we hit the darkest part of the story. I don't think I'm entirely satisfied with the ending since it feels so unrealistic. It felt as though the author was trying to shove a happy ending in there, but this book felt like it needed a bittersweet ending instead. There was one specific plot point that felt like it only existed for the shock factor, and it never really resolved. One of my biggest gripes with this book is that I kind of hated Rukhsana's Seattle friends and girlfriend. They were supposed to be the anchor point for her, especially during the darkest times, but they fell really flat as characters and as friends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Rape, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Child abuse, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Islamophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Hate crime, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Sexism

ljohns118's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

Honestly didn’t read much about it before I started but I enjoyed reading it. Definitely made me cry a bit & made me angry at times but it was a page turner and I liked the ending. A good story for sure, just did not expect all of that; it certainly made me feel grateful about my situation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Vomit

tbr_withmaya's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative 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? No

5.0

This book gets nothing less than 5 stars. It was so good!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

eashani's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, and Outing

Minor: Racism

belle2008's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Murder, Outing, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

emcatbee's review

challenging emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is a difficult read, but so easy at the same time...its concisely uplifting but represents so well the issues facing the LGBT+ community, and the way that changes for brown people.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Hate crime, Murder, and Religious bigotry

tahmida's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism and Vomit