Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

646 reviews

rchulin1's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

3.75

Good but since the book is very short and there are less than five characters, and the story takes place within hundreds of years, and the plot isn’t too detailed it could have been better. I have read a similar book series called the tale of the vampire bride which is similar to this hook but done better

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

leximarie06's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

The book was paced nicely. Everything flowed. 
It’s exactly what i was expecting but i dont mean that in a negative way in the slightest. The tale of Dracula as told through one of his wives view. Its disturbing- but not in an “the gore scenes are gross and disturbing” way. i dont have too much difficulty reading scenes like that. i mean disturbing in a psychological sense. Its worrisome how affective the manipulation was, not only on the characters but the reader as well. It’s clear how twisted certain actions and words are in the book but you wouldn't expect it to reach the reader like it did. Its not often a story on abuse like this is able to handle the situation with caution and real, raw emotion but this is one of the few instances where (in my opinion) it was handled perfectly.
I was put off by the fact that the lovers referred to one another as “siblings” but thats a small blip in the grand scheme of things, its hardly a concern in comparison to all the hardships of the story. 
The story was absolutely beautiful and tragic. it was story of survival and hope. amazing book.
It also had its fair share of detailed gore and lust. the romance scene were heavily detailed so if that’s something that puts you off, watch out for those. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

hazychapters's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

This book was just as liberating to read as it probably was to write. I absolutely loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gaslighting

xiahsshi's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

idontexizt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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: Emotional abuse

russian_susie's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, and Murder

nadstorro's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

Not enough pages for this story! Switched between reading (on kindle unlimited) and audiobook. Audiobook was great! Check trigger warnings. Really made me emotional. Abuse is very isolating and with these characters being immortal the isolation was heightened even more so. The only man that gave them life is also the only one who can end it. It was so heartbreaking for them.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Gaslighting

lindsayreads21's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

Everyone told me I absolutely HAD to read this, so I finally gave in. The whole book is written as a letter that Constanta is writing to the vampire who turned her. At first, he was a loving and kind husband, but throughout their eternal lives, she started to realize that he was abusive and controlling. The writing is truly exquisite and beautiful in every way. My main issue with this book is that Constanta’s husband (she has purposefully erased his name from history) turned others throughout the book and they were regularly referred to as her siblings or children. But they all still had…relations. 🤮 If they had chosen to just call each other anything else, I would have been just super, but the familial relationship made it super weird. 

That being said, I stayed intrigued through the story and felt absolute rage at the way the younger vampires were treated by their sire. This is a pretty short book (236 pages) and could have probably been shorter since there wasn’t really an overarching plot line beyond the relationship itself. 

A Dowry of Blood: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

cw: abuse (emotional, physical, verbal), sexual content, blood and gore, murder

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse

abelle's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Murder

rookangas's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Violence