Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca

69 reviews

morganpearcy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

4.5

This is a collection of 3 shorts by LaRocca: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke; The Enchantment; You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over. LaRocca is brilliant with shorts. They have been added to my list of authors that I’d like to read the entire bibliography of, just from these three. I would have given it 5⭐️, but the descriptions of two fat characters bothered me. Those descriptions were not atrocious as some, but had an undercurrent of fatphobia that I could not ignore. I only took 0.5⭐️ off for it because both are just a few words, not the focus, and it’s not full of vitriol - just using unnecessary words that really need to be removed from our language.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
 At first, I was surprisingly aroused. Who doesn’t love an intense queer love story!? Then, I was shocked. Then, I was utterly disgusted and fascinated. This one was a fucking trip. 😳 I relished the grotesqueness of it very, very much. Even though I wanted to vomit at times, I couldn’t put it down, and I couldn’t look away. That’s how you know it’s a damned good horror short.

The Enchantment
 This was a dark and emotional read for me. I did NOT see the end coming. I felt the sadness, anger, frustration, and arousal of these characters. Could not stop reading until I was done with the short. This was really perfection on so many levels. Be prepared with tissues at the very end.

You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over
 More queer characters. I flew through this story, although it was my least favorite of the three, by far. I definitely felt the tension of this one building in my chest until the very end. I love it when authors don’t wrap the ending up in a nice little bow - letting the reader fill in their own ideas. This did that really well.

Definitely check the CW before reading to ensure that you can stomach the content.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

emmylis's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, and Suicide

amberbjorge's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Homophobia

I had to pause multiple times while reading this book because it gave me the creeps. Great storytelling in an interesting way.

libbywibby's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

this book was an adventure and i’m kinda of concerned i liked it as much as i did lol. the last short story was very dull tho

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

If you can't handle talk of Christianity, praying, etc. Skip the second story

ptitirodactyle's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

THGWSWLS: 4,25 stars
The Enchantment: 3 stars
YFILTAO: 3 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

the first story out of these three was fine, but the other two were quite boring :/ reading the afterword did make them both a bit clearer, but it doesnt make the stories any more enjoyable. the first one was really well-written and i wanted to know how it would end, but the second story was a little too drawn out, and the third one was just...strange. i also dont know why the third story's main characters husband was described as being racist because he's literally only mentioned. it just feels like a really weird detail about someone we dont ever meet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

gotabookforeverysituation's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

Minor: Racism

tesshersh's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

3.5

“things have gotten worse” is def the star out of the three, even tho it is the most nauseating one - don’t think the others are really worth the read but they’re quick at least so I don’t feel like my time was completely wasted

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

melissaopond's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

1.0

All the stories feel rushed and unfinished 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria