Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

27 reviews

lorriss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Racism, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Colonisation, Violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, and Gore

Moderate: Cursing, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, War, Rape, Abortion, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Addiction, Animal death, Pregnancy, and Forced institutionalization

arichey1988's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Gore, Abortion, Classism, and Domestic abuse

jordan_uhden's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Rape, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

on_your_raedar's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I genuinely enjoyed this book! I listened to it and I think that helped a lot, I'm sure I'd still be reading if I read it instead because it can be pretty slow. The author spent unnecessarily time trying to build anticipation with the ghost in the house and the "twist" was not a twist so the book felt about 1-1.5 hours too long.

Some things I loved:
1. Love a good ghost story
2. In incorporation of a culture different than mine
3. The dual POV 
4. A strong mother/daughter relationship (though this is is minimal at the beginning and end)

Some things I didn't enjoy:
1. The priest that made his flaws everyones problems
2. The dutiful marriage trope
3. Any level/ amount of DV

Overall, I would recommend. This is my first Gothic thriller/horror and I will be exploring more in this genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Alcoholism, and Death

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Abortion

blissofalife's review

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

The inspirations for this book

Rebecca, Shirley Jackson novels

are obvious throughout but told through a fresh lens and seamlessly combined. The build-up was superb, the climax felt a little too fast. Would still recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Abortion, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Mental illness, Vomit, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, War, Confinement, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Animal death, and Colonisation

tigger89's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I found this book to be the perfect type of spooky, the kind that gives you chills while you're reading but that doesn't linger once you've put the book down. I particularly loved the way the classic "catholic exorcism" trope was twisted by having the exorcist be not just a catholic priest, but also a witch. The atmosphere was also gorgeous, both outside and inside the hacienda. I felt that sunlight, and those chills!

Something I didn't like was that the female characters weren't as strong as I'd expected. They were all either very passive or they were under heavy aid from(or motivated by) male characters, particularly Padre Andres. It's not that I feel he was a bad character, but for a novel which contained themes centering around patriarchal control and violence, it was disappointing to see the female characters essentially led around by a male lead, even one who was respectful and good. This is especially jarring in comparison to Mexican Gothic, which I felt handled the partnership of the female lead with a male companion much better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Colonisation, Abortion, Murder, Classism, and Racism

Minor: Alcoholism, War, Sexual violence, Rape, Confinement, and Death of parent

aformeracceleratedreader's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

Really great for the haunted house/afraid of what lurks in the dark vibes. The overall story for me was quite slow to get through until towards the end. 
It is multiple POV. 
The reason the house is haunted was interesting, but it felt pretty slow to get to that point. I loved all the creepiness of it though. It was nice reading a gothic horror that wasn't set against an all white cast. The author also touches on class/classism and colorism/racism a little bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Racism, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape

honeywine's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is definitely vibes, though I struggled to get into it until around the halfway mart. The historical part of the historical fiction was pretty neat and enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Abortion

Moderate: Rape, Abortion, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Grief, and Domestic abuse

madelinekramer2021's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death, Alcoholism, Rape, Domestic abuse, Body horror, War, Dysphoria, Classism, Alcohol, and Abortion

maeverose's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

My favorite tropes/themes from this book:
-🦇 gothic atmosphere 🦇
-beautiful prose
-clashing religious beliefs
-hot priest
-forbidden romance


I loved this!!! This was my first real horror novel (besides Dracula), I usually avoid horror because I really dislike gore, but this one sounded like it was tame enough gore-wise so I took a risk and I’m so glad I did. This felt a bit like a classic gothic novel. I LOVE the writing style. I’m a sucker for beautiful writing. That first chapter. Yes. I was a little surprised how much focus the romance got, but I’m not complaining at all because that was actually my favorite part, unexpectedly. This felt like a pretty even mix of historical romance, gothic horror and fantasy, which apparently is my thing. I need to find more.

The only negatives I can think of are that after finishing the book I can see how some things might’ve been a bit predictable to more avid horror readers, but I actually didn’t predict anything while reading lol. And secondly, I was never actually all that scared while reading.. I only found a few scenes a bit scary, about two thirds into the book. I think because a lot of the horror elements are so fantastical it didn’t really phase me? I’m more scared by real life horror (and there is a bit of that in this book too). It also didn’t have a ton of suspense, it kind of just throws stuff at you pretty early on after Beatriz moves in.

Anyway I need to go buy a copy of this book now

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Racism, Vomit, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, War, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Rape

As someone who doesn’t like gore, I’d say it was pretty mild. Only really injury descriptions (some detailed), blood, and a description of a partially decomposed body. I was fine reading it, but if you’re especially sensitive I’d say be careful. Minor memory loss from a concussion, and to my fellow hyperhidrosis sufferers: there is a negative sweaty hands/face comment in here :/