Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee

114 reviews

surefinewhatever_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

You had me at sapphic dark academia! This story reminded me a lot of White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi (whom is also referenced in this book). This book explored a lot (femininity, witchcraft, madness, class, queerness & conservativism) and I appreciated it. I ultimately felt less surprised by most of the twists & turns than I would have liked, but all the same, enthralling and hard to put down!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Death, Animal death, Drug use, and Mental illness

Minor: Vomit, Classism, and Racism

averyrembish's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Minor: Racism, Classism, Bullying, Outing, Transphobia, and Vomit

blkunicorn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Murder, Death, Grief, Animal death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism and Blood

dernhelms_bag's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Alcoholism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Abandonment, Gun violence, and Blood

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Vomit, Bullying, Classism, Lesbophobia, Body horror, and Eating disorder

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I was super excited to read this because queer dark academia is right up my street. It was very well written, and gave me modern classic gothic vibes. Shirley Jackson is mentioned a lot and it did remind me of her work somewhat. 

Unfortunately I found the characters to be a bit unlovable which really made it hard for me to feel anything for them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Outing, Alcoholism, Classism, Racism, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Blood, Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Animal death

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, and Cursing

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Racism, and Confinement

_teoeo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Don't know what to think about this book. At first I loved it and some parts I still love. Although the middle part of the book is a bit boring, (because it feels like nothing happens) I like the poetic writing and the mentioning of feminism and witchcraft and all this stuff. 
The ending is what confuses and frustrates me the most. It's totally different from the rest of the book and the last 100 pages felt like I'm reading not the same book anymore but another one with a completely different story. 
But I still like the first 250 pages and the style of writing so the book is still 3 out of 5 stars for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Murder, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Animal death, Death, Drug use, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Racism

faefires's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

This book seems it was written directly for me. Witchcraft, lesbians, dark academia, literature students, engaging writing, murder. (The only negative was that it was in in first person, but considering the use of unreliable narrator, I forgave this sin rather quickly)

We follow deranged literature girlie Felicity as she returns to her def not witchy school after definitely not murdering her ex girlfriend, who is now def not haunting her. We then watch her descent into utter madness, obsession, paranoia, magic and darkness. This book is very cliche. There's really nothing novel here, nothing that makes it special or unique in the dark academia murder genre. It's not a satire masterpiece like The Secret History, nor an unique retelling of a Shakespearean tragedy like If We Were Villains. But in my opinion, it didn't need to be. It's a fun, thrilling little murder story, and while it is not particularly novel or revolutionary, I enjoyed it and read it very quickly. It's fairly well written, with my only complaints being the internal monologue of Felicity being quite repetitive at times.

If you think you'll like this book, you probably will. You might guess the twist (I did) but the twist isn't what makes the book good, and you can enjoy it without being shocked. Pick this one up, read it in a day, and enjoy the lesbian murder girlies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism

katsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

“Ex Scientia Ultio. From knowledge comes vengeance.” 

“The question isn't whether magic is real. It's whether I can touch it without being consumed by it.”

This book was alright. The dark academia vibes were spooky and fun. The fact that there was absolutely zero characters that were men was delightful. I didn't fully realize until the very end but every character either identifies as a woman or nonbinary. Loved that representation! I also really liked when the writing got a little meta. However, I found it slightly annoying when the author said something to the extent of "she touched me and I felt a tingle go down my spine" for the 50th time. Like find a new description, please. But ultimately, the atmosphere was this book's saving grace, for sure. The writing and plot weren't terrible. I found different parts intriguing but the first two-thirds or so were kind of slow. It really picked up in the last third but by then I had predicted a major plot twist so when it happened, it didn't impact me the way I expect it was meant to. If  YA thrillers and dark academia are your jam, you'd probably enjoy this more than I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Bullying, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Gore, Sexual content, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Cursing

ekahnicole's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

This book had so much potential but just didn't deliver. The setting and atmosphere was often great but the pacing was bizarre - at times painfully slow and at others too fast (especially at the end). I always enjoy an unreliable narrator but the MC takes it a bit too far at times. Ellis was entertaining but the "plot twist" for her character was far too predictable. Overall, I really wanted to love this book but found myself rolling my eyes at times with how over the top some things were and it ended up being a bit of a chore to finish. I would definitely read more of Victoria Lee's work, because I enjoyed her writing style for the most part and I think she has potential to write something excellent in the future. This one just didn't quite get there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse and Alcoholism