Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Sign Here by Claudia Lux

56 reviews

lin3han's review

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Drug use, Eating disorder, Self harm, and Alcohol

lela's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I don't think this book is marketed very well - I was expecting more of a darkly funny supernatural story, and while there were aspects of that (some real funny characters in hell) it was mostly a family mystery. So overall it was a fine book (not a lot of character depth but I thought the pacing was excellent for a debut novel) but not something that's really in my wheelhouse. 
I did like that there were some parts of the mystery you could work out for yourself while still having some surprising twists

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Self harm, and Violence

Minor: Drug use and Suicide

micaelamariem's review

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

2.0

This book would’ve been better as a thriller without any of the paranormal/hell/demon stuff. It sounded cool but those were the parts that bored me. Reading about the family on earth was interesting, but overall could’ve been done better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jennabeck13's review

dark funny slow-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

2.0

Sign Here by Claudia Lux

⭐️⭐️ (2/5)

Genre: Fantasy/Horror

About 400 pages

Peyote’s job is hell. But no, like literally hell. He works on the fifth floor of hell getting humans to sign here and sell their souls to get whatever they are “praying” for. Right now, Peyote is focused on getting a deal with someone from one particular family, The Harrisons. If he gets one more deal with a Harrison, he will have what is termed a “full set” which is an accomplishment in itself, but he has a different reason for wanting that set… Told from Peyote and several members of the Harrison family’s perspectives, we read about the summer that may make or break Peyote’s dreams.

This one started strong for me… I thought the concept was super fun and creative, and enjoyed the way Peyote narrated. However, as the book went on, I started to lose interest and found myself skimming at times. It was obvious the stories from all the narrators and the past & present were intended to connect, but it took too long for Lux to get there. The two stories ultimately felt forced together once they did connect as well. I started this right before Halloween hoping to end the spooky season strong, but unfortunately, that plan fell through 😕

Favorite Quote: “As far as I can tell from my observations, growing up seems to involve a lot of false starts, a lot of broken promises. The realization of the world as something neither for you nor against you, but rather uninterested in you entirely. No matter how special you are, how many gold stars you receive, the world itself is incapable of loving you.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Blood, and Abandonment

nekoshka's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

For some reason, I went into this expecting it to be dark comedy. It’s really, really not. Also, I spent the whole book expecting Silas to assault Ruth or smth. That didn’t happen (so no adult/minor stuff, thankfully), but it was extremely creepy. 

Cal’s backstory was interesting, if a bit too convoluted. I really wanted to like Pey, but he was just too bland. 

Overall, it was dark, unnecessarily sexual and the characters a bit underdeveloped. But not bad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer, Suicide, and Pregnancy

margaret721's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

jstrah104's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Eating disorder, and Self harm

Minor: Suicide

ashhearddwrites's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Murder

iovreads's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

this was on my tbr for awhile because the premise seems really funny, but this was ultimately not for me. gave 2 stars because i tore through it and felt interested enough to want to know what happened, but i didn’t like the journey that it took me on to get there

the below contains spoilers and trigger warning for pedophilia and self-harm

the harrison family characters were all unlikeable, except maybe poor mickey who deserved way better. silas was giving pedo vibes because why are you looking at a 14 year old showering???? also why are we going into graphic cutting scenes for basically no reason, as it didn’t further the plot or the character development of mickey at all. there would be so many ways to capture that she is an insecure teenager who is being bullied at school with no learned coping mechanisms yet. also, the whole character of cal and her back story was confusing at best. there was just way too much going on in this book, including the world building of hell, the backstory of cal, trying to devlop each of the harrison family members, the thriller twists, etc that it was just not a good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Murder

Moderate: War

Minor: Drug use

emilyjc's review

dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Violence

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol