Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Hooked by Emily McIntire

138 reviews

angelofthetardis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I read this series of books last year (and reviews were posted at the time), but recently found the first four were available as audiobooks as part of my Audible subscription. However, they're being removed in a couple of weeks, so I want to try and get them listened to before then! 

The audio version definitely adds a level to the story in bringing it to life, especially where you have a male narrator reading James' chapters and a female narrator reading Wendy's chapters. However, I still cannot understand why you would hire two narrators for that purpose, and then not have them speak the appropriate lines in the other person's chapter (I.e. have the male read James' speech within Wendy's chapters and vice versa). They don't do badly at putting on the opposite voices, but it just grates on my nerves!

I was less convinced by the voices/accents employed for the secondary characters - the male narrator had an especially tough job given that he's a Brit and most of the secondary characters Americans. I couldn't tell you whether the accent was right for the setting (Brit here), but it was quite harsh and didn't necessarily suit the narrators' natural tone of voice. But equally they managed to bring each character to life throughout with different voices for each and, for the most part, they didn't wander too much. 

There were a couple of places where I felt the narrators could have 'acted' a bit more to get the point across, but generally it was a very enjoyable listen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Gun violence, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity, Bullying, Vomit, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pregnancy, Medical content, and Rape

bigfootsbiggestfan's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• 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

0.25

most vile & disgusting piece of trash i’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexism, Death, Cursing, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, and Domestic abuse

filipa_maia's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

So, this was my first dark romance / smut read, and although this is not my preferred genre, I did appreciate this book.

The characters are complex, with a background that really explains where they are now, they have good arcs, and overall this book has a decent plot. I predicted part of the final plot, but not all, so I still got surprised.

Mostly, I liked the fact that Wendy wasn't completely removed from managing her own life - okay, maybe after what happened she didn't have much of a choice, but still.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Murder, Gun violence, Confinement, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Torture, Violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Car accident

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit

tranquiltides's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I feel that this book is very deserving of all of the hype that has been generated around it. But reader beware, if you’re looking for redemption arc, light hearted romance and healthy relationships, this is NOT the book for you. 

Its dark, its sexy, its consensual, but there are elements about it that can be triggering for some readers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Bullying, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Cursing, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Excrement, Car accident, and Body horror

Depictions of child abuse, P*dophelia, and child death are more vague allusions than explicitly depicted

kylasmv15's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Kidnapping, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Gun violence

Moderate: Medical content, Bullying, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, and Vomit

mochacorgi's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Death, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual content, and Stalking

dexlud's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m still unsure on my feelings towards this book. I definitely resonated with the daddy issues, but I also didn’t enjoy a lot of this book. The first half was pretty mid but the second half was alright. I enjoyed the drama ig? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, and Torture

marlenareads's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Gore, Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Drug use, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Child abuse

zozoann's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Honestly I liked the plot a lot for being a very smut heavy book. Definitely all the morally messing up stuff you could ask for. Loved that is was a “fractured” fairy tailed loved all the notes to the Peter Pan story line. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Blood, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Gore

edietz22's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Physical abuse, Death, Grief, Sexual content, and Stalking