Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Appetite for Innocence by Lucinda Berry

14 reviews

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There wasn't a single likeable character in this book, and it didn't add to the story in any way. I spent a lot of this book angry for the wrong reasons, and by the end I was grateful it was over. 

All in all not a terrible read, but definitely not one I would recommend. 

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark sad tense medium-paced

Enjoyment wise, I'd rate this book lower than a 3. But I did feel like the trauma representation was well done, which boosted it some. 

I was dissatisfied with the ending and parts of the book were difficult to read and probably did not need to be that graphic. 

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I don't even know where to begin with this book. This was a very difficult, very messed up read. Initially, I stopped reading after a few pages because I knew this would be triggering for me but once I did come crawling back, I read the rest in one sitting--with my partner as support. So very heavy on the Trigger Warnings, take them so seriously.

 It's the kind of book that makes you hold your breath. It's like getting gut punched and then asking for more. And then when you get lured into a false sense of security you get punched again. It's the kind that literally had me screaming, crying, throwing up. I've never felt so dirty and cursed reading something. This was probably the emotionally heaviest book I've ever read. It was also the most realistic representation of the feeling associated with the themes that I've ever read too.

I don't know what dark corner of hell Lucinda Berry drew this from but its regretably, horribly addicting. I try to reserve my 5 stars for books that really have changed my life but I literally cannot walk away from this book not changed. My skin is still crawling.

 10/10 gut punch me again Lucinda.

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was just ... fine. Honestly it felt like Berry just crammed as many triggers as possible into one story line. The description notes that the kidnapper finds these girls via social media, but that is barely touched out. The "twist" was kind of predictable. 

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here_only_for_books's review

2.5
dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

🔹 My take: 2.5/5

***spoilers included***

⚠️ Sexual violence, teenage rape, murder, self harm

🔸 John stalks teenage girls over Internet by checking in their whereabouts before finally kidnapping them and locking them in his basement. He is a serial rapist interested in exploiting virgin girls. Story is about 2 girls Ella and Sarah who have been held captive for months & years but are able to finally set themselves free. What follows is their diametrically opposite accounts they share with FBI when asked what John did to them. 

💖 Wows - Its a page turner. But except that hardly anything that I liked about this one so we will straightaway move to Ows section 😀. 

💔 Ows - 
🫤 I kept on waiting for John’s POV, his past, his justification/ logic but the book gives nothing; just nothing. I could not even gauge what age he is. 
😡 The vocab and grammar is bad, real bad. Every other chapter has “I lay on the bed motionless”, “I step back to the bed and lay down.” You don’t lay on bed; you lie on bed. Lay is used for things; lie is the verb you use for living beings.
😔 Writing is plain and flat. Sentences read “She puts her hand on my back. I flinch. Struggle more.”, “He checks his watch. A thick plastic one.” Like seriously??
😏 None of the characters are likeable. Don’t get me started on  Ella’s mom, Jocelyn. She needed more counselling than Ella. 
😳 2 POVs with 2 different timelines is ok but every chapter titled as Sarah Then/Sarah Now and Ella Then/Ella Now was 🤯
🤬 This book does not have suspense, mystery or twists. There are only 2 twists & first one is revealed when you are 15% in. 
I disliked many things which kept on pulling down the ratings.

💫  If you are a hardcore thriller fan & have read lots of thrillers already, this will not fit your bill & will leave you frustrated. If you have started this genre recently, look at TWs and this will be a good read. ⭐️⭐️✨

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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challenging dark sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings