Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Sign Here by Claudia Lux

41 reviews

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

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

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

soshereads_'s review

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Torture, and Abortion

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

goldsbuc's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Interesting concept, slightly predictable at first, a little bit edgelord at times tbh but overall an interesting read. Ending was abrupt and I’m confused about how some of the plot lines tie together. It needed another couple chapters to better explain. 

imo the dark natured creeping on Silas’ part was extremely unnecessary and added nothing to the plot. Shame on the author for introducing that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Cancer and Eating disorder

ggreen1379's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Pedophilia and Terminal illness

ktdakotareads's review

dark funny medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

aformeracceleratedreader's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Super interesting concept but the writing could get confusing/convoluted. 
I liked following the inhabitants of hell in the form of office workers and learning how to make it through/climb the ladder through hell. The human side of the story was interesting at some parts but not my favorite perspective/parts of the book. I preferred following the Pey and Cal side much more than the Harrison's side of the story.
The ending was a bit of a letdown for me though. It wasn't a bad ending per se, but it just wasn't super fulfilling to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail