Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke

14 reviews

mooglemania's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

Author said "fuck those lesbians"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Sexual assault

Minor: Rape and Abortion

camelia_martin's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

Finished this book in around 8 hours! It was gripping for a while, then it started becoming a bit boring like the plot building was taking too long.. then suddenly - bang, a revelation to keep you hooked

I really thought Mabel was a ghost until finding out she’s alive in the shed!

Those little revelations really kept the intrigue, and the way the seemingly unlinked characters and their lives became interlinked was incredible. 
I had a gut feeling about how Mabel was pregnant and despite turning out to be correct I was still shocked by the way it was revealed. 
I feel like Wulfie’s storyline was a bit rushed at the end - I really wanted to feel more for his character. The hints

like him slipping up and calling his “grandad” dad a few times

were great foreshadowing. 

I will say I didn’t find it scary, though I don’t find horror/thriller or gothic horror books to be scary anyway, but I did find myself reading faster and faster as I hit the last 100 pages. 

Mrs W’s situation was predictable

they mentioned the cordyceps taking over a host body so many times throughout the book, and her few sudden flips in behaviour couldn’t have been due to a personality disorder, so her being taken over by the curse woman was obvious

Overall though an enjoyable book that kept me wanting more! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Animal death, Grief, Child abuse, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Dementia, Pregnancy, Rape, Child death, Classism, Death, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Sexism

kelamity_reads's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

This book merged multiple interests of mine into one, gloriously intriguing tale.

Gothic horror, fungi, and strong bonds of friendship weave together to make a tale that is both fascinating and terrifying.

There's not much I can say about the story itself without hinting at spoilers but I loved how well-written the story was. Usually when tales are broken up between two perspectives and two different timeframes, I find it either hard to follow along or the overall story feels disjointed and incoherent but Cooke was able to handle them well and merged them seemlessly into a single timeline by the later half of the book.

I started off by listening to the audiobook before switching to the ebook. I found the audiobook narration very good and only made the switch as I wanted to read the story faster.

This would be a great title to add to LGBTQIA+ lists due to the inclusion of lesbian relationships.

Some TW to be mindful of: Infant death, sexual assault.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Child death

allegedmusician's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

siddydakiddy's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

louisegraveyard's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Rape, Sexism, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

brittsuek's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Death and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault, Confinement, Child abuse, Rape, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Child death, Cursing, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts

rhi_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child death, Rape, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Lesbophobia, and Medical trauma

Minor: Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Car accident, and Emotional abuse

snazzyrhombus's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

1.0

kind of hated this i'm sorry cj cooke,, the premise was really strong but i feel like it just flopped. very cringey read with a lot of painfully predictable or weird and out of place twists and turns

like the stupid note saying 'help me' actually made me giggle. also (i'm a lesbian fyi) i feel like the queer relationships here are super forced and unrealistic,, i hate when writers/filmmakers can't decide whether to let the gays live in peace and create a homophobia-free universe or to suggest homophobia is a worrying factor and just sit somewhere in the middle, in this case where they're all worried about being found out but also don't even panic much at all when they are found out bu their friends who also turn out to be gay....? i also feel like in this era it would take a lot more to figure out you're gay but idk i wasn't around in the 50s/60s so i don't even know

 

anyway yeah just read mexican gothic instead very similar premise but a lot better

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia

koshkajay's review

dark mysterious

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault