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melapfl's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy
itsbecca's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Car accident
ksilvio's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
cuppajo16's review against another edition
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy
icecreamsoldier's review
- 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? No
1.0
The other characters while their stories where more interesting and more developed I still had a lot of issues with them for instance this is supposed to be a book about feminism however Violet feels like “I am not like other girls” by bashing on other girls who wear skirts.
Altha on the other hand was my favorite character, and I really enjoyed her queer romance with Grace, however at the end she just gets the “seed” of a man just so that she can be pregnant and continue the lineage of women in her family (Which honestly as a lesbian woman it felt like a slap to the face). All of these stories really just made me feel as if a woman will only reach their true potential and be fulfilled through motherhood, as Altha the only queer character in the book gets pregnant, Violet who aborts her first daughter as it is from the conception of a rape even though she is very successful in her career and life she feels like something is missing and was the chance to be a mother (and it’s confusing why she could not have had another baby, since based on Kate’s story it is unclear whether the witches only the first women born, or is it all the women? What is wrong with having a boy and teaching them to be better? Or what about adoption or other sources of being a mother figure?), and Kate which the only thing she talks about is her pregnancy.
The writing at times was overly decorated ranging from cliche phrases and absurd amount of insect metaphors (we get it all these women love insects). Finally this book while I understand that is telling the stories of women abused by men it felt like it fell under the spectrum of “all men are bad” and even the ones that weren’t like Graham they are defined as like “okay”. I am not saying we should give a cookie to every man that is not an abuser however I think this problem is not a problem that could be solved by segregation of the woman but instead of teaching men to be better
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting
Minor: Forced institutionalization
courtsnovellife's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Miscarriage and Abortion
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Suicide attempt
missjaward's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
In 1619 Althea is on trial for potential witchcraft, accused of putting a spell on her friend's husband, John, to kill him after finding out he was abusing his wife (Althea's friend Grace who was being beaten up because she could not provide him with an heir), Althea is actually involved in his death by proxy when 'her' crow causes his cows to stampede and kill him. Althea is found not-guilty in trial and very bizarrely at the end invites a local boy into her house to have sex with her one time so she can get pregnant and have a daughter. That was a bit weird.
Violet 1942 - doesn't know much about her own dead mother and lives a lonely life in a grand house. Her cousin comes to visit and rapes her (let's not forget not only was she a child but this is quite incestuous). When she becomes pregnant she is cast out of the family home into her mothers old poor cottage where she finds her mother old 'recipe/concoction' books and induces her own miscarriage. Its never really explained why her father chose the mother in the first place as she was obviously from such poor background and never seemed to care about her. Why would a man with all the riches and wealth choose someone like her (who he himself calls strange) without actually being truly in love with her? She lives the rest of her life without children but has visions of her brothers kid suffering in the future (she sees visions of a car accident and a horrible man), so she chooses to leave all of her possessions to her when she dies rather than try and make contact again. hmm. the cousin also basically gets away with the rape, although it is alluded that Violet puts a curse on the family home so it is infested with bugs until her death
Modern day Kate - finds the courage to leave her abusive relationship when she realises she is pregnant. She flees in the night to the cottage left to her and tries to start anew. While I totally get fleeing the abusive relationship - there is no real thought to what is going to happen after the baby comes. Unless its reported in the right ways, the father is likely to find out and demand visitation because he is so controlling anyway. She also keeps blaming herself for her dad's death after he was hit by a car when she was distracted by a crow (the crow in question being her aunts - so really did she ultimately kill her brother?!)
The endings of each story were pretty predicable. The only one I really didn't like was Altheas where it was so important to her to have a child that she just randomly bedded a guy from the village once so she could be impregnated. I quite liked the end of Kates story where she was able to almost use her witchy powers to have the birds and spiders attack Simon making him leave. I think I would have preferred more of the witchy elements rather than just the abusive men storylines but heyho.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
els04's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Pregnancy
bmatth3's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Infertility
Minor: War
hollydollyiow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Abortion
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, and Pregnancy