Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Sign Here by Claudia Lux

66 reviews

crweber25's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

I loved the concept of hell, and peyote, and the systems in place. I didn't care for the Harrison's story, except in the way that it tied into peyotes plot line. I also think I misunderstood the summary and thought this would be funnier in overall tone. There were a lot of witty jokes that I enjoyed, but I didn't realize that this wasnt a comedy overall. 
Overall this was written well, and it kept me reading even when I discovered it wasn't quite what I had anticipated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Suicide

amberjackonski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity and Alcohol

cheezh8er's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? No

3.5

This was a fun and engaging version of hell! The prose was surprisingly poignant, although a bit flowery at times. My one main issue is that the two story lines felt very disconnected through most of the book, almost being two completely different stories. There were certainly times I really couldn't bring myself to care about the high school drama and wanted to get back to exploring the underworld. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Car accident, and Death of parent

monstersinspace's review against another edition

dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed the subtext of the book and I found the character's flawrd but likeable. I will admit I was confused a lot about what was going on and who was talking in since it jumped time and place so often. I think it falls into the same issue a lot of time travel adjacent stories do where if you think about them long enough they are nothing but paradox so its best to take the story at face value. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Self harm, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Gaslighting

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

It took me SEVEN MONTHS to finish this novel. There are many reasons why:

1. From BOTM’s description and the book’s general marketing, I fully expected this to be a horror/thriller. It was not. It was more just a family drama with a supernatural sort-of twist with half of the book’s POV set in literal Hell.
2. Every time I picked this book up to read it over the last several months, I was bored. The first half of the book seems like it’s going NOWHERE and nothing stuck. The storyline that follows Peyote in Hell seems completely irrelevant to the storyline in present day that follows The Harrison family.
3. But then, it finally picks up. Once I finally pushed myself to get more into it (after almost DNFing many times), something shifted. The stakes changed. Suddenly the Harrison family story is dysfunctional and mysterious and gripping. The Peyote storyline shows potential of intersecting with the other, some interesting twists come about.
4. Still, it’s confusing. I still have no idea how they will connect, just that now Peyote is actually referencing the Harrison family members and their dilemmas. 
5. Peyote and Cal’s plot becomes even more confusing and drawn out. But I’m very intrigued with the POVs from the Harrisons’ side. 
6. I finish the last 250 pages within a couple days. The pacing finally hit a sweet spot for me. The imminent ending seemed promising; everything would finally make sense.
7. Except… it wasn’t? And it didn’t? 

This really felt like two different books in one. In the end, I was still confused, and disappointed in all of that buildup to… what, exactly? I would have rather read about only The Harrisons. But I guess it was entertaining, nonetheless. Something different. Just maybe not the different I wanted it to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Pedophilia, Sexism, Stalking, and Abortion

amobrien's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Drug use, Pedophilia, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder

goldsbuc's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

2.75

Interesting concept, slightly predictable at first, a little bit edgelord at times tbh but overall an interesting read. Ending was abrupt and I’m confused about how some of the plot lines tie together. It needed another couple chapters to better explain. 

imo the dark natured creeping on Silas’ part was extremely unnecessary and added nothing to the plot. Shame on the author for introducing that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Cancer and Eating disorder

cheye13's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This was an interesting tale. For some reason I wasn't expecting a mystery/thriller element, nor was I expecting how literary in tone this one turned out to be. 

The parallel storylines (in hell and in life) were fascinating but I did ultimately expect something more impressive from their culmination. The primers about how hell works, especially with time, set up a great method for more creatively weaving the two tales together but was entirely underutilized. An interesting story at the time, likely wholly forgettable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Self harm, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Drug abuse, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Abandonment

The book includes a fringe religious cult involving young boys fighting each other to the death. The experience of a girl in foster care is quickly summed up, implying sexual abuse and a mass murder. There is a later attempted premeditated/conspiracy to murder.

pagesandplanets's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Self harm, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

Super interesting concept but the writing could get confusing/convoluted. 
I liked following the inhabitants of hell in the form of office workers and learning how to make it through/climb the ladder through hell. The human side of the story was interesting at some parts but not my favorite perspective/parts of the book. I preferred following the Pey and Cal side much more than the Harrison's side of the story.
The ending was a bit of a letdown for me though. It wasn't a bad ending per se, but it just wasn't super fulfilling to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail