Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

195 reviews

dbmassey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

mark5327's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Margaret is alone in a house filled with "pranksters," ghosts who only present their greatest challenges to the home's only living occupant in September.

The September House gave me a story which I've read before, but in a super readable manner. It wasn't until the big showdown at the end where I lost any momentum at all and that's just because I don't love action sequences. If you love ghost stories with likeable protagonists and an unsettling sense of atmosphere based on the accumulation of regular haunting events, you could do far worse than The September House. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jomerl's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse

emeliaisreading_'s review

dark funny slow-paced

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

2.75

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: The September House by Carissa Orlando
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Thriller/Suspense
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: September 5, 2023

Victorian Home
Haunted House
Witty Dark Humor

You know that episode of SpongeBob where the Flying Dutchman wrecked his ship and moved in with SpongeBob until the ship is fixed, getting his kicks by scaring SpongeBob until he wasn't afraid of the him anymore? That's this book 👏🤣

I listened to The September House as an audiobook and I loved the narrator. It feels like your grandma telling you a scary story. I enjoyed the use of flashbacks, giving us the story of how our FMC ended up in the gorgeous *VERY HAUNTED* home.

Unfortunately, though there's story began strong, the pacing was a bit slow overall. I REALLY dislike the multiple uses of Christ's name in vain. I understand it's not an issue for others but like.... there's so many other curse words you could use to convey the same frustration. 

⚠️: mild horror elements, semi-frequent use of foul language, multiple uses of Christ's name in vain, emetophobia

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Violence, Blood, and Vomit

karine_h's review

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Vomit

theagcdas's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Dementia, and Murder

nataliepithers's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

A disturbing dark and unusual story, full of gore and horror but not without humour.

The pacing was off for me, with a good beginning hook, that slowed to a crawl before a white-water rafting escalation of suspense and terror for the final quarter!

I’m still not sure what to make of the ending. I think this book will keep me pondering and musing for some time. What really was “real”? What was metaphor?

The book was very original, the characters vivid. A good read, just wished the slower quarter to half had been edited down a little to pick up the pace.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, and Murder

camilleo's review

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

This book freaked me out SOOOOO badly. I mostly read it during the day bc otherwise i think I would’ve been too scared 😭

I really like how this wasn’t your typical horror book and the different themes it explored.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

queenkath32's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

briel79's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

I listened to this on audiobook. I had read no reviews prior to starting so I was surprised at the humorous tone of the book, at least during the first 25% or so, but I really enjoyed it. Then the book started to get darker and darker, though still with bits of humor involved here and there as well as the amusing tone. It did cover some heavy topics such as domestic abuse, murders of women and children via horrible means, and descriptions of their various horrible wounds. The climax of the book had some pretty horrible descriptions but “Needs must…” as we hear over and over in the book! 😆 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse