Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke

3 reviews

chrisscorkscrew's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Grief, Chronic illness, Dementia, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, Sexual violence, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

camelia_martin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

Finished this book in around 8 hours! It was gripping for a while, then it started becoming a bit boring like the plot building was taking too long.. then suddenly - bang, a revelation to keep you hooked

I really thought Mabel was a ghost until finding out she’s alive in the shed!

Those little revelations really kept the intrigue, and the way the seemingly unlinked characters and their lives became interlinked was incredible. 
I had a gut feeling about how Mabel was pregnant and despite turning out to be correct I was still shocked by the way it was revealed. 
I feel like Wulfie’s storyline was a bit rushed at the end - I really wanted to feel more for his character. The hints

like him slipping up and calling his “grandad” dad a few times

were great foreshadowing. 

I will say I didn’t find it scary, though I don’t find horror/thriller or gothic horror books to be scary anyway, but I did find myself reading faster and faster as I hit the last 100 pages. 

Mrs W’s situation was predictable

they mentioned the cordyceps taking over a host body so many times throughout the book, and her few sudden flips in behaviour couldn’t have been due to a personality disorder, so her being taken over by the curse woman was obvious

Overall though an enjoyable book that kept me wanting more! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Animal death, Grief, Child abuse, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Dementia, Pregnancy, Rape, Child death, Classism, Death, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexism

_teoeo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

The rating for this book is indeed a bit tricky to me. 
I enjoyed the storyline and after reading the author's note I understood the plots intentions even more. I liked that it had lesbian representation and a lot of sapphic characters. And the ghothic atmosphere, yes!! 
However, what destroyed the reading experience a little for me was the writing. I was really surprised because I've read The Lighthouse Witches and in that book the writing was really good. But in this one it seemed rather loveless, tbh. It's not that I dislike reading first-person-perspective in general but I think a third-person-perspective would suit this book and plot a lot more. 

But all in all it was an enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Child death, Pregnancy, Rape, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal death