Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

46 reviews

brooklyn_el's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Suicide, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Vomit

stewartj0421's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

This book was SLOW. I definitely struggled to get through this at times, yet the story itself always made me pick it back up. I knew the ending would be worth it, and it was. I must add that there were an abundance of editing errors that should not have made it into the final print of the book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Child death, Violence, Death, Vomit, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault, Gore, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Torture, Stalking, Grief, Murder, Mental illness, Cursing, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use

quiet_reader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Bullying, Blood, Vomit, Violence, Murder, Death of parent, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death

allidone's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Gore, Sexual assault, Stalking, Child death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury

toffishay's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

A dark, exciting, mysterious fairytale. There are some heavy themes and things certainly get intense, but I was really pleased by the way the story comes together...even when things get dark and sad.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Sexism, Murder, Violence, Gore, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Vomit, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Body horror, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

There are some detailed descriptions of rot and death that some readers might be sensitive to.

dovewrites's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

3.5 - 4. The writing is of good quality and I appreciated that the author managed to keep the tone despite the book being set in modern times. This book has an incredible fairy-tale quality and it’s impressive that mentions of social media and the sims 4 did not disrupt that feeling. The explorations of femininity and the grotesque were very compelling and exciting to read in a YA novel. The character building was so interesting, I’ve read that some people feel like Iris is bland

but I think she’s supposed to be, she is so intimately linked to her sisters and especially to Grey- she has no self- until the end, when we see a glimmer of her becoming something more.

My only grips are that the Americanisms did disjoint me a little and If this book is a stand-alone why was the ending written like it’s setting up for a second book? 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Self harm

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

House of Hollow is a gorgeously written, dark and twisted fairytale set in modern-day Scotland. Iris knows she and her two sisters haven't been normal since they were kidnapped as children. She is determined to figure out exactly who took them, what happened to them, and why they seem to have otherworldly powers. Iris leads readers on a nightmarish journey: through magic doors, coming face-to-face with the walking dead, cursed kisses, and long-lost family members.

This book is totally out of my wheelhouse, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance! It's a fast, fun read, but you should definitely check out trigger/content warnings before reading as the book can get fairly graphic in its depiction of gruesome imagery. If you like Stranger Things, you'll like this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Sexual violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic friendship

nikenacs's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

[Book club - November 2022]

Not the biggest fan of this in the beginning, but it really won me over in the end. A tad too YA for my taste, but that's a me problem. Had I read this in my teenage years, I would have been absolutely /obsessed/.

The strong part of this book is definitely the finale, or generally everything that takes place after the hospital. This is where everything that has been laid out before really pays off. The main strong point of the book is that Sutherland is fantastic at describing surroundings, smells, sounds, sensations, all her horrors feel very tangible. The mix between strange natural beauty and body horror worked very well. 

Unfortunately, this strongly descriptive style also felt like one of the main downsides to me. The book is VERY Tell, Don't Show, and I felt like very obvious things were being spelled out for me again and again. I could see most plot points/twists coming a mile away. Maybe this is a YA thing, though, and I really am just a little too old already. The pacing was odd in some places as well.

Overall, it didn't wow me, but it was pretty good. I probably wouldn't have stuck with it if it hadn't been for the book club, but I'm glad I did.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Vomit, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Rape

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

garciaga's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

kittykaz's review against another edition

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Murder, Violence, and Vomit