Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Weyward by Emilia Hart

56 reviews

pandemonicbaby's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Classism

nerdyforbooks_'s review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

I hate when I have high hopes for a book after hearing all the hype + getting nominations (BOTM)/rewards (Goodreads) - that just doesn’t work for me. And I’m pretty basic. I did like the large majority of GR’s Choice Awards winners. This one wasn’t it. 

We follow 3 women of the Weyward family line. Here I was like, great, cool! Strong witches from a long line of powerful women! Yeah… Althea is probably the only one who “owns” her power & likely because she’s the only one who knows their history. Her POV is also pretty jarring as it’s told in 1st person while Violet & Kate are told in 3rd. Eventually this makes sense as you get further into the book, but it takes until late in Part 2 (also not sure those were needed but… whatever). 

I honestly liked Violet’s chapters the best. She was such a bright, inquisitive teenager who had to deal with hard tragic situations. Kate was, oh boy, Kate was rough. She also was dealt a shit hand in life. I just found myself getting annoyed with her and then annoyed at myself because her situation was not her fault, but damn girl, she needed therapy as a child. She needed Violet to BE THERE in her life damnit. It just made things so annoying as you find out more. 

Wow this turned into a rant… I’m not saying this book is poorly written. It’s just not for me. I’m glad all these women found their inner power. Damn tho. Someone needed to step up to stop this generational trauma sooner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Suicide attempt

kimveach's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

I had high expectations because this was the Goodreads Choice Awards Book of the Year (2023)—perhaps too high.  It was a good book, but I felt the three good storylines were one too many.  With stories set in the 1600s, 1940s, and the present day, the story constantly jumped around.  If I had been able to read it in one sitting, it might have worked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

aestass's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? No

4.25

This book is an inner generational story of a family of women witches from the middle age which trials to the modern day. It is very similar to “A secret history of witches” by Louisa Morgan, but with more of a focus on birds, insects, nature. The story focuses, primarily on three different weapon: Altha, Violet, and Kate. It talks about these women struggles as they try to come to terms with using their gifts, and touches on elements of abusive relationships and domestic violence. Overall, it is a heartwarming tale of resilience and about the joys of giving into one’s passions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Medical content, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

This book touches on many mature and dark topics in a way that is respectful and not overly graphic, but necessarily detailed in order to convey their importance.

sar_willow's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and War

fruitwash's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

2.5

After reading all the wonderful reviews, this book let me down a bit. Maybe I went in with incorrect assumptions, but I wanted MUCH MORE witchy magic. It was a lot of sexual abuse & violence against women to get through for a pretty lackluster ending and NOT MUCH MAGIC. Since there is a main character who is literally going through a witch trial, I thought it was safe to assume there would be some witchcraft? But there was only one spell alluded to in the entire book. No potions, no rituals, no sigils. 80% of the book was just relatively dull, slow-paced, magic-free descriptions of how men are abusing the three main characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

nadine34b10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Abortion

Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

nialiversuch's review

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

This is the kind of story I hoped for from A Secret History of Witches - a winding tale of connected generations of witches. I think it's the focus on fewer individuals, the persistent nature theme and symbolism, and the nonlinear telling that makes this one work better for me. We get to see each woman all throughout the book instead of just being a string of beads we look at one by one, one after the other. The magic is also more ambiguous (but still there) than SHW, more of a magical realism feel like A Murmuring of Bees (one of my faves) than the historical realism vibe of SHW.

TW for Rape, sexual assault, pregnancy, abortion, domestic abuse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and War

rachelly's review

challenging emotional reflective sad

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting