Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - My Dearest Darkest

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham

33 reviews

silviaaa's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

It was okay but at times it was really slow. I didn’t care about the character until the middle of the book . There were so many background/secondary characters that I didn’t bother remembering most of them. A lot of which ended up being relevant later and I had to keep checking back to remember who was who. I enjoyed the ending and the reveal at the end. I think it was the most interesting part of the whole book. That being said it wasn’t for me but I think middle/high school me would have loved it.

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beckyremillard's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

Finch dies in a car accident.. but she starts breathing again and survives where her parents don’t. After her accident, she’s accepted to the prestigious boarding school where she meets Selena.

Finch and Selena both know about this paranormal creature that offers them favors. At first, she doesn’t need anything in return, but then she needs hair, fingernails, etc..

I read this author’s newest book, and she definitely has a specific writing style. I enjoyed the other book, which is why I read this one. It was good, albeit a bit gorey, but still an interesting story with a little backstory for the main characters. Could have used more backstory on characters like Simon, Sumera, Amber, Risa, etc.

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l_e_lavalle's review against another edition

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dark 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? N/A

4.25

Would recommend! It's a perfect rainy day read as well as a single day read. I couldn't put it down from start to finish.

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zoe_o_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

For me this was a pretty average read. It had a good plot, ancient mysterious entity drawing humans. There was a short lived glimpse of the enemies to lovers trope, but it was very minor. Points for making the villain

a straight up god tho

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trashboatwinter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

personally, i couldn’t connect with these characters. i felt like the writing wasn’t the greatest especially in certain dialogue with finch constantly stumbling over words. selena and finch’s dynamic i felt like changed super quickly. selena went from hating her to having a crush on her super quickly. there really wasn’t any building there and it left me disappointed. i was super excited to read a sapphic horror, but it just felt slow and the writing didn’t feel great :(

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analog_librarian's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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asherz08's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

My Dearest Darkest is a dark paranormal/horror story with a queer twist. This was a great and entertaining read. The concept of the story was very intriguing and unique. It definitely kept me on my toes and I'm not going to lie, there were quite a few times where I was a bit creeped out.

For a debut novel, Kayla has everything you could want in a good paranormal read. Her attention to detail and sucking you in to the world of Ulalume Academy is absolutely fantastic. I definitely recommend picking this up if your looking for a good spooky season read this fall.

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julybunny's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

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

2.25

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mahitdzmare's review against another edition

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dark lighthearted mysterious 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

3.5

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applejacksbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I thoroughly enjoyed this book start to finish. I love the dark academia, thriller-y vibes of the story, but I wish there was a little more suspense built into it. Finch and Selena are adorable together, and I am happy with the ending overall.

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