Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

47 reviews

scops_xyz's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Medical content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

picklespoirot's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, and Alcohol

jjreads331's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

hefftbundle's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

4.5

I wasn't sure if I liked this book until the end. It's much darker than I typically enjoy, but by the end, I loved it. It is painful, emotional, hard to read and so well written.

It is an intense story about humanness built around the deep importance of conservation. Learning to trust and grow after extreme trauma is also a centerpiece of this book. 

You will probably guess part of the ending, but it still has elements that will surprise you and make you weep. Again, incredibly well written. Will leave you aching and hopeful. What a wild ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Medical content, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Abortion, and Alcohol

manonh90's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

voxvenati's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Really beautiful book about nature and conservation and people. I cried several times during the book, and very much enjoyed the narrator’s reading of the novel. It does start a little slow, but it picks up in the second half. 

Please read through the trigger warnings before starting if you’re at all concerned, though, because there are some really heavy topics involving DV and death.

Even without the underlying murder mystery surrounding things, this book was engaging and really lovely. In fact, Aggie being the murderer might have been the one storyline that I wasn’t the biggest fan of, and didn’t feel 100% earned to me. This is probably the reason it’s not a full 5 star. 

I love how much time is spent in nature, with the wolves, and talking about conservation. The piece about starting small in your own backyard was just so sweet. 

I normally hate timeline switching, but it was so fluid and easy in this book that it didn’t feel off at all. Very natural progression.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, Abortion, and Death of parent

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse

astrofaux's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

taliastorm's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity

unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Um. Not sure how to review this since it is way outside my usual preferred genres, so I can’t really comment on the plot twists or mystery aspect because everything is a surprise to me always. However, the setting of the story, the prose and the characters were all extremely compelling. This book is darkly atmospheric and has a focus on rewilding and conservation that I enjoyed. I liked how I couldn’t trust anyone in this book and that every character was morally gray, like most people in real life. I was very interested in finding out not only what happened to the humans in this book but also the wolves the MC is working to reintroduce to Scotland.

McConaghy is efficient with her words, building tension and unease through two concurrent narratives and a flashback. This is a short book but not a super fast read. There is trauma galore here, please check the CW (in the comments) - beyond the deaths, there are graphic domestic abuse and r a p e on page.

👍🏻Recommended? Again, mysteries are not my usual genre so I’m not sure how strong that aspect of the story was but the prose and conservation and feminist topics in this book make it worth checking out if you are in the mood for something dark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Stalking, and Alcohol