Reviews tagging 'Blood'

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

197 reviews

itshrewsbury's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Vomit

Moderate: Homophobia and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, and Rape

laura_nel13's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Classism

fanboyriot's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Read For:

✓ Exorcism

✓ 80s Horror

✓ Teen Angst 

✓ Childhood Trauma 

✓ High School Setting

˗ˏˋ ★ REVIEW ★ ˎˊ˗

Had decent hope for this after watching the movie but the book was disappointing.  While there were more details in the book, it overall felt a bit lackluster.

The build up dragged out for a bit longer than I would have liked.  The set up started out good enough but when it came down to the actual plot it felt like we would always learn something we should have already known.  And of course the dog death seemed unnecessary; it added nothing to the plot and felt too much like a last minute shock factor.  Lastly, the ending was disappointing, all of that just for friends to drift away?

Spice Level: n/a

Angst Level: 💧💧

POV: Third Person

Release Date: 17, May 2016

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

samanthaleereads's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Eating disorder, Blood, Vomit, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Racism

jj_whatsherface's review

dark funny hopeful inspiring medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

any book containing the phrase "Tommy Cox, defend us in battle," is an automatic win.

And then defeating the devil with a soda can, an eighties song, and the power of love is just the cherry on top.

Beautiful book, perfect cast, made me feel both happy and a little disgusted at the same time. A beautiful encapsulation of the 80s satanic panic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Religious bigotry, and Car accident

brutallybookish's review

adventurous mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

1.5

I know so many people who love this book, and I was so excited to read it during October for a spooky read, but it was just not for me. It reads much more like a YA novel than a true horror novel, and there's nothing wrong with that - it's just not my style. While the 80's nostalgia was so well done, and the references were wonderful, that's about where my love for the story ended. I felt that the racial content was unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story, and the ending became a bit redundant. I had trouble getting through the physical book, so I switched to the Audiobook, and the narrator was great, which was helpful in keeping me from adding this to my DNF pile. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Vomit

Moderate: Violence and Blood

Minor: Sexual assault

janetsuzanne's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

lizziemarie01's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

refrejarator's review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was described as the Beaches x The Exorcist crossover and it did not disappoint. How did this leave me teary eyed and heart-warmed? I don't think I can describe it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Eating disorder, Blood, Excrement, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape

erika_winters's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

This book was definitely everything the blurbs on the front and back covers said it was; The Exorcist meets Heathers for sure! It brought us into the 80’s and showed us teen life during that decade of big hair and pop music. The time period itself acted as a character; living throughout the text as the characters sing to the likes of Madonna and Phil Collins, which Hendrix cleverly includes as each chapter’s title. The roller rink, the bright makeup, the patterns; all of this added to the texture of the time period and made it easy to visualize the atmosphere of a 1980’s horror film. I loved the friendship that Abby and Gretchen have; the inside jokes, the fake lyrics they come up with, the times spent together almost every day of the week that end in nightly phone calls. This is the kind of friendship all of us want and crave. Their bond eventually weakens when Gretchen gets possessed by a demon, which is truly such a disheartening thing to happen. It really broke my heart to see how Abby tries to save her friend and has to come to terms with her new reality while Gretchen suffers to find herself in the midst of demonic possession. It’s sad, slightly scary, grotesque, vile, and bloody, so stay cautious of that while reading, but overall, it was a great read! My only hang up in the book is that it didn’t start to take off and become engrossing until around page 100 (for me). I understand the foundation Hendrix wanted to lay down, and respect that, but the action builds up to that point (page 100) and then keeps getting more interesting from there! The ending made me sob as I read the last few pages under lamp light before heading to bed to start a new week, so I thank Hendrix for the beautiful and relentless female friendship he wrote into this book; it was truly special to see that kind of bond go through so much and make it out on the other side of things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Please be aware of the above content warnings. This book is chock full of triggers for many folks, and can be very graphic at times when describing bodily harm and fluids!