Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Sign Here by Claudia Lux

15 reviews

suzy_urch's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense 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? Yes

3.5

Plot picked up massively around three quarters of the way through. Highly unbelievable but very dramatic! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Murder

mle11's review

dark funny tense

2.75

a lot of interesting pieces but unfortunately didn't put them together in any kind of meaningful way. what was that ending...?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, and Pregnancy

esme_may's review

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Medical content, Car accident, Abortion, and War

hippie_raccoon's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

Man. What a letdown of a book. Initially I was drawn into the Hell/Earth storylines. But the Earth storyline just does a lot of word-dump explanation of events in the last 25% of the book. And the Hell storyline.... It felt like it could have been entirely removed from the book and it wouldn't have changed anything about what was going on with the Harrison's. 
All in all I feel like this was an interesting concept with potential, but wasn't executed in any impressive manner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Self harm, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Pregnancy

cheezh8er's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? No

3.5

This was a fun and engaging version of hell! The prose was surprisingly poignant, although a bit flowery at times. My one main issue is that the two story lines felt very disconnected through most of the book, almost being two completely different stories. There were certainly times I really couldn't bring myself to care about the high school drama and wanted to get back to exploring the underworld. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Car accident, and Death of parent

thatswhatshanread's review

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

It took me SEVEN MONTHS to finish this novel. There are many reasons why:

1. From BOTM’s description and the book’s general marketing, I fully expected this to be a horror/thriller. It was not. It was more just a family drama with a supernatural sort-of twist with half of the book’s POV set in literal Hell.
2. Every time I picked this book up to read it over the last several months, I was bored. The first half of the book seems like it’s going NOWHERE and nothing stuck. The storyline that follows Peyote in Hell seems completely irrelevant to the storyline in present day that follows The Harrison family.
3. But then, it finally picks up. Once I finally pushed myself to get more into it (after almost DNFing many times), something shifted. The stakes changed. Suddenly the Harrison family story is dysfunctional and mysterious and gripping. The Peyote storyline shows potential of intersecting with the other, some interesting twists come about.
4. Still, it’s confusing. I still have no idea how they will connect, just that now Peyote is actually referencing the Harrison family members and their dilemmas. 
5. Peyote and Cal’s plot becomes even more confusing and drawn out. But I’m very intrigued with the POVs from the Harrisons’ side. 
6. I finish the last 250 pages within a couple days. The pacing finally hit a sweet spot for me. The imminent ending seemed promising; everything would finally make sense.
7. Except… it wasn’t? And it didn’t? 

This really felt like two different books in one. In the end, I was still confused, and disappointed in all of that buildup to… what, exactly? I would have rather read about only The Harrisons. But I guess it was entertaining, nonetheless. Something different. Just maybe not the different I wanted it to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Pedophilia, Sexism, Stalking, and Abortion

emacmillan's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

I enjoyed the themes of family, the perception of trauma, and sexism. The back and forth of the storylines kept me on the edge of my seat. And at the end of the day, I love a book that relishes the complexity of humanity. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence

cheye13's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.0

This was an interesting tale. For some reason I wasn't expecting a mystery/thriller element, nor was I expecting how literary in tone this one turned out to be. 

The parallel storylines (in hell and in life) were fascinating but I did ultimately expect something more impressive from their culmination. The primers about how hell works, especially with time, set up a great method for more creatively weaving the two tales together but was entirely underutilized. An interesting story at the time, likely wholly forgettable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Self harm, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Drug abuse, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Abandonment

The book includes a fringe religious cult involving young boys fighting each other to the death. The experience of a girl in foster care is quickly summed up, implying sexual abuse and a mass murder. There is a later attempted premeditated/conspiracy to murder.

maggieparedesauthor's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

loy127's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail