Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor

7 reviews

bellebookcorner's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

I really like this magical book!
It certainly gives off the Caraval vibes - enchanting, alluring and yet it has dark secrets underneath it. 

I absolutely love the strong sister bond between Zosa and Jani. 
The interesting characters inside the hotel kept me interested with their background story revealed little by little as the story goes.

I also love the blooming slow burn sweet romance between Jani and Bel!
I love the mysterious Bel, he's very swoon worthy! It made me wish there's his POV in this story. 

The ending was a bit too rushed in my opinion but otherwise, it was all a happy ending for all the characters. 

Overall, it's an enchanting debut novel with easy to read writing style that will  hooked you right into the plot to explore this magical mysterious hotel!
I'll definitely check out other books by this author in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Death of parent

caradowson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

The beginning of this book did move a bit slowly for me, but once things started happening OH MY GOD. There were so many twists, turns, and new developments that it had me HOOKED. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Death

Minor: Sexual content and Blood

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Slavery, Gore, Murder, Violence, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Alcohol, Death of parent, Medical content, Physical abuse, Body horror, Sexual content, Child death, and Dementia

spookily's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Lovable characters: "It's complicated" because, while some of the side characters are arguably lovable, the MC is intolerable. She spends the entire novel jumping to conclusions, acting impulsively, and excusing her own behavior by claiming that her stubbornness is a virtue, even when it puts her and her sister in greater danger. She's rude, self-centered, and extremely difficult to sympathize with or root for.

Diverse characters: "It's complicated" because the author has a weird obsession with showing off how many colors she can list for skin tones. Every single unnamed side character is described by some inane set of words like "the copper-skinned boy," "mocha" "olive" "porcelain" etc. etc.. It essentially feels like she is just filling the room with as many "diverse" looking characters as possible without having to put in the work to incorporate an actual sense of diversity into the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, Torture, Blood, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, and Vomit

Minor: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Cursing, Excrement, Confinement, Alcohol, and Classism

brokentoes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Perfect blend of “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Spirited Away”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Classism, Emotional abuse, Death, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content

nisha_27's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Cursing and Sexual content

katiemack's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I'm so impressed with the world-building in this book--there are points at which it gets a little fuzzy, but overall Taylor has a strong sense of her characters and the system of magic in which she is working. The writing is rich and enchanting, and there's an element of mystery as Jani tries to figure out the secrets of the hotel; there are enough surprises and red herrings to keep things interesting.

I've heard the themes and plotting are similar to Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus and Stephanie Garber's Caraval (both of which, I'm ashamed to admit, I still need to read), so if you enjoyed that I would pick this one up. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Violence

Minor: Sexual content