Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould

17 reviews

insincerelycait's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual assault

shayh's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

This story had a great atmosphere and strong believable characters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault

w0lfyfr3n's review

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

I almost abandoned this book in the first half because of the unexpectedly tame camp and the maddening teenage bickering, but I'm glad I didn't because once I got through the slow start every single page afterwards was captivating. 

Travelling with the characters on this fast paced romp through a deadly forest, you get to watch their relationships with themselves and eachother evolve in interesting ways. Great found family vibes, with a commendably written enemies-to-lovers wlw romance as a bonus. The danger was well-defined instead of being left abstract, and the paranoia it wrought on the group was an intriguing addition to their dynamics. 

Ultimately what pushed this book above a 4 for me was the unrelentingly compassionate way it approached almost every character, even the ones you'd think were too difficult to like

especially in the case of the "monster"

. It went about recontextualizing the actions of "troubled teenagers", so that the reader is gradually able to better understand where their behaviour grows from, which I found refreshing for the psychological horror genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

bluebird_vdj's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts

joliebean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

cleot's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror and Religious bigotry

Wilderness therapy,

past foster abuse, past csa, doppelganger horror, doppelgangers take form of people most likely to cause psychological torture, intentional triggering

gueniverefey's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

dougyounkin's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

horrorandscience's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Devin Green is a foster child in Portland, Oregon. One night, she's taken from her foster parents' home and placed in the care of REVIVE, a troubled teen wilderness therapy group. She tries several times to run, but knows she has no other option. She meets Ollie on the way there, and Aidan, Hannah, and Sheridan at the woods. Coaches Ethan and Liv are supposed to be their guardians for this 50 day long expedition, but only a few days in, they both go missing. Strange things happen while the kids try to navigate the woods using their limited skills, and eventually Coach Liv reappears... but something is wrong, very wrong.

I requested this book from NetGalley originally because I thought it would be a fun thriller with some mental health elements intertwined. I was highly surprised when there were creatures and monsters in the forest. And I was hooked. The novel was very easy to read, and although there were several characters who shared the spotlight, it was easy to tell them apart and get into their own personal stories. They all came from different backgrounds, and showed that no matter where you come from, life can be horrible for a young adult with mental illness.

I'm not usually a big fan of YA novels, but the characters were older in this book, and I was able to connect with them pretty well. They did things teenagers would do, and I think having the coaches disappear mid-book helped solidify that.

The troubled teen industry is a very real thing, and I've heard so many horror stories that don't involve monsters. Courtney Gould was able to construct a novel on a real topic that provided a spotlight to these horrible wilderness programs, while also delving into the issues involving teen mental health.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse and Suicide

sonyagale's review

challenging dark 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

5.0

This book may be a little triggering for some, but it was absolutely fantastic and very well worth reading about the hard topics covered. It didn’t exactly go into much detail but there is a lot of mention of abuse, drug use, etc. that has a lot to do with the main plot of the book. That doesn’t give away anything by the way, just wanted to mention it!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail