Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

9 reviews

quotablehedgehog's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Violence, Abandonment, Car accident, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Cursing and Mental illness

helenafaustina's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

This book kept getting better and better, and I'm glad I picked it up.

The first thing I'd like to say is that this would be a great book to read for anyone who wants to get into creative writing. There is a lot of descriptive writing with beautiful similes, prose, and things like that that are not only enjoyable, but would be really good for students to pay attention to.

It's a cozy book, full of twists and turns. It gets rather crazy at some points, and there was a lot of shocking plot twists that I didn't expect, although I did predict one from the beginning that I'm proud of myself for. I'd like to reread this knowing all that happens. The writing, in true Montgomery fashion, is gorgeous. As a nature lover myself I absolutely relished those parts. Romantic tropes came up, but it wasn't cringy, and it was enjoyable and sweet. 

The only think that made me take away a half star was that during Valancy's rebellion, her attitude towards swearing was weird. She was decent in every way, but she had become weirdly tolerant of it to the point of considering doing it herself. It was an odd point in her character development.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, Bullying, Medical content, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Sexual content

Mild swear words, like d*mn. Mild physical romance, nothing to worry about.

spootilious's review against another edition

reflective medium-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? Yes

2.5

 

Read: October 29, 2023
 Title: The Blue Castle 

Author: LM Montgomery 

Genre: Historical Romance
 Rating: 2.5 / 5
 Review: 

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this novel. I have never read Anne of Green Gables, then again from what I have heard, this book is nothing like those. So, I suppose that is a good thing. Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised by The Blue Castle. It is certainly quaint and adorable but feels far different from any other historical piece I’ve read. 

The Blue Castle and may things about it that I do not care for of course. The representation of woman alone is enough to have me sighing (though it was expected, the cruelty of these women were not), the beauty standards as well were repetitively shoved in the readers’ face and the amount of time the main character was called ‘Not pretty’ to her face was quite annoying. The story line was extremely predictable and at points the author grew a bit longwinded on subject that weren’t relevant to the plot; and many of the characters were interchangeable to the point I couldn’t remember who was who. 

All that being said, I enjoyed this book immensely. The writing was beautiful. Despite the lengthy bits, the story only seemed to drag in the first half of the novel but really picked up midway. The premise was adorable and I love the moral even if the ending was utterly unrealistic. 

  Quotes: 
 “Fear is the original sin. Almost all of the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that someone is afraid of something. It is a cold slimy serpent coiling about you. It is horrible to live with fear; and it is of all things degrading.” 

TW:
Body Shaming, Chronic Illness, Classism, Cursing, Emotional Abuse, Gaslighting, Religious Bigotry, Terminal Illness.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Classism, Cursing, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry

kelleykamanda's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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

3.0

Predictable and nothing particularly novel, but gentle, easy and nice nonetheless.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Bullying

Moderate: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Misogyny

Minor: Child death, Death, and Sexual harassment

lizzye33's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Chronic illness

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, and Medical content

Minor: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Misogyny, and Terminal illness

asiaasiaja's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Beautiful prose, a great and well fleshed-out protagonist, one of my most favourite romance books of all time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Bullying, Classism, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, Misogyny, and Death

Moderate: Dysphoria and Confinement

Minor: Religious bigotry

readingelli's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Bullying, Child death, and Death

tessareads_'s review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

4.75

Just a lovely read with beautiful descriptions of nature and well written, vibrant characters. Really want to go and live on a secluded Canadian island now.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, and Death

Minor: Racism

Some comments made about Valancy's eyes to a modern audience come off racist

maurabee's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child death, Chronic illness, and Death