Reviews tagging 'Death'

This is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau

23 reviews

booksandbears's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, and Car accident

Minor: Dementia and Body shaming

leahrosereads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.75

Miller why were you so stupid bestie? Seriously, don't give narcissistic folks second chances, they'll never deserve it. This was fucked, but it got me out of my 2 month reading slump, so I appreciate out of this story.

It was well written and the perfect length, but man was Miller an idiot. Poor Florence not knowing what could have happened to her fiance. Or maybe she rescues Miller and gives Sylvie what's coming to her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Violence, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Confinement, and Death

faye_grace's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

A chilling novella focusing on an extremely toxic mother-daughter relationship.

For just over 90 pages there were so many scenes that had me creeped out! The author has done a great job at characterisation.

The isolated setting adds to the novella and the sense of being locked in.

Definitely read if you're in the mood for a short (but creepy) horror novella!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Death of parent

Moderate: Stalking, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Death, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

grimdark_dad's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

hayleeenikole's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death

Minor: Car accident

hardella's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Okay so I loved this misery-esque thriller. I read it on a plane ride and it had be hooked the whole time. As someone who has worked in the anti-violence field with a focus on family violence it hit hard and nothing was surprising. 
My biggest issue with this book is the ending.

I get the goal was to be dark and mysterious. And I’m not mad at that. BUT when the main character is a good person experiencing trauma, I want a happy(at least happyish) ending. For example, the ending of Get Out is still wild and tense but the main character “wins” as he should. I wanted this for Miller too. Too many victim-survivors of domestic violence do not get a safe ending especially queer folks. I wanted to see Miller’s fiancée save her in the end.

Otherwise I think this was a great novella and the author did a fantastic job of writing a realistic and tense story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, and Death of parent

mfrisk's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

This book is an incredibly tense and stressful deep dive into a toxic mother/daughter relationship with a story that references Misery, The Shining, and Psycho. As many have noted there are two major twists and I did see one of them coming but wasn’t clear how the ending would sort out. As depressing as it is though it seemed fitting that that is what we are building to.

I really enjoyed this short novella read and would highly recommend it to those who are looking for something dark and psychological. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body shaming, Car accident, Toxic relationship, Murder, Blood, Lesbophobia, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, and Body horror

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

This was delightfully spooky and made me feel just as trapped and confined as anyone would be in a cabin during a snowstorm. I love horror that plays with family dynamics and this really delivered. I do feel like I have some questions that didn't quite get answered that are nagging at me, and I feel that they could've been answered if this were a full length novel or even if there was an extra 20 pages, so that's what keeps me from rating it higher. overall a good time though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Body shaming, Cursing, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

aas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Cursing, Dementia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Car accident, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, and Death of parent

kstericker's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Blood, Death of parent, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

Minor: Dementia, Terminal illness, Cursing, and Stalking