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feyreofthestars's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Grief, Body horror, Death, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Child death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Mental illness
bree_h_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Body horror, Miscarriage, Gore, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Stalking
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Emotional abuse
winterhartarts's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mental illness, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Dementia, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexism
emboldend's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse
emilyreads15's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
I randomly just decided to start this book one day, since I had recently gotten it in a giveaway and oh my gosh. I just didn’t expect this at all. Tbh it’s been so long since I read the synopsis, so I kinda just went in blind.
It was just the most interesting plot I’ve ever read. To start off the story is a creepy retelling of The Brother’s Grimm fairytale, ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses.’ We read the story from Annaleigh’s pov and she is the 6th born of the 12 girls. Since I’m not too familiar with the fairytale, I didn’t know what to expect so ofc I looked up the original and it was already crazy itself. But the author took this twisted story and twisted it even more. I had no clue this book had horror elements to I was so shook while reading it.
On top of this, the author is a phenomenal writer. Like the level of writing and planning it takes to write a book like this is insane. So I definitely applaud her on that. There were so many twists and turns and I just kept being surprised. While I had my suspicions, I truly didn’t know who to trust and at times I didn’t even trust Annaleigh even though I was reading from her perspective. This book truly took gaslighting to another level.
Overall I really enjoyed this read! At times the world building lost me a little bit. Also because there were so many sisters, I sometimes lost track and often couldn’t remember what they were supposed to look like. Some of the characters also got on my nerves *cough* Camille and Morella 👀 *cough*. However, I still really loved the book and in the end I definitely recommend this read. It was truly unlike anything I’ve ever read before!
Read this book if you want some mysterious fantasy gothic vibes with a little bit of horror.
I also recommend this book to anyone who loves Belladonna by Adalyn Grace.
Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Violence, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death
Minor: Death of parent, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Animal death
sappix's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Gore and Murder
Minor: Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse
Childbirth should be on the list.chloenrogers's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death, and Body horror
Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Child death, Self harm, Blood, Forced institutionalization, and Animal death
stephanieluxton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Annaleigh was one of 12 princesses living on the island, but after the unfortunate accidental deaths of a few of her older sisters, and her mother, the townspeople believe her family to be cursed. Annaleigh believes the most recent death was a murder rather than a suicide and begins trying to unravel the mystery, with some help from her childhood crush and a handsome stranger she meets in the market. The plot thickens when the sisters go searching for a portal used by the Gods to travel to other regions in hopes of finding love with people who are unfamiliar with the curse. Annaleigh struggles to unravel the mystery of what's happening. Is there really a curse? Who can she trust? Wtf is going on? Also, there's ghosts.
The world-building was well done in this book. We learn about their religion and customs organically without a ton of exposition. It's definitely a world you can get lost in. The only thing that makes this book YA is the lack of smut, which feels authentic to the time period where marriage came first. One thing that wasn't old-timey was the fashion for the balls that the princesses attend. Everything is described in a beautifully cinematic way. As the book slips further into horror, the descriptions are grotesque and you genuinely feel scared for our characters who we've grown to care about.
I'd recommend this book to people who like gothic, ghostly, psychological horror and don't need smut to enjoy themselves.
Moderate: Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Classism, Suicide, Child death, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Death of parent
This book is more psychological that violent and we generally see the aftermath of violence more than we see violence. There's a few scenes that feel like nightmare sequences that are a bit more intense. The horror sequences were pretty epic for a YA book, but it's definitely not splatterpunk or anything.cerilouisereads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
magellen's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The twist on a twist on a twist just...it feels like a beta reader should have gone 'this one works the best, lean into THIS angle' and instead the author piled up everything that ever crossed her mind. The cast sprawls, the descriptions drag on without being punchy, and any moment the mc knows herself is overridden, made malleable by others to progress the plot.
I've seen this described as an example of unreliable narrator - ehhhh I disagree. Literally all you need to know is in the narration. Information is not withheld by the narrator, the narrator's opinion does not color the facts, there is nothing unreliable about it. If people use 'unreliable narrator' I can see it applied to a couple endgame chapters where there's a gaslighting, but again, it's not unreliable narration, it is an mc set up to have no self when challenged by others.
It's a ya romance with gothic overlay. Does what it says on the tin, but by the end you are apt to be exhausted by the pivot twist pivot turn of the back third.
Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, and Grief