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A review by mousereads
Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid
Did not finish book.
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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A few things to note before I get into this review: The trigger warnings are only presented as a comment from the author on goodreads. This was buried behind several others comments due to the way goodreads is formatted. Generally, I don't fuss too much about trigger warnings, but this book heavily needs one in the beginning of the book, and I hope the publisher and author consider adding it.
I DNF'd this book at 60%, despite telling myself I would try to get to 75% at the bare minimum before doing so. However, I found myself wanting to do literally anything else before picking this back up to continue reading, which was when I realized it was time to put it down. I do feel I read enough of the book to give an honest review, though.
This book heavily focuses on morbidity to hide that not much happens (again, at least for 60%). Could I tell you what the plot was, by means of the main character wants x and this is what's preventing it and this is the plan? Maybe, but only in the absolute vaguest of terms. I adore Ava Reid's prose, but in this instance, it tended to make what was happening simply confusing. The constant traumatizing events and overt sexualization of everything made me feel numb to everything that happened. I went from the kind of horrified that I expect with dark books, to emotionally detached and completely not caring. There was no balance, no reprieve from these moments. It wasn't helped by our narrator being not enjoyable and trying to make excuses for this due to her trauma, but coming up short over and over again.
Updating - this is now being marketed more clearly as horror, and I am grateful for that (and trust me, I love body horror. It's one of my favorites to consume). Regardless, this does not repair the other issues within the writing and lack of content warning for the reader. The rest of my review I maintain.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A few things to note before I get into this review: The trigger warnings are only presented as a comment from the author on goodreads. This was buried behind several others comments due to the way goodreads is formatted. Generally, I don't fuss too much about trigger warnings, but this book heavily needs one in the beginning of the book, and I hope the publisher and author consider adding it.
I DNF'd this book at 60%, despite telling myself I would try to get to 75% at the bare minimum before doing so. However, I found myself wanting to do literally anything else before picking this back up to continue reading, which was when I realized it was time to put it down. I do feel I read enough of the book to give an honest review, though.
This book heavily focuses on morbidity to hide that not much happens (again, at least for 60%). Could I tell you what the plot was, by means of the main character wants x and this is what's preventing it and this is the plan? Maybe, but only in the absolute vaguest of terms. I adore Ava Reid's prose, but in this instance, it tended to make what was happening simply confusing. The constant traumatizing events and overt sexualization of everything made me feel numb to everything that happened. I went from the kind of horrified that I expect with dark books, to emotionally detached and completely not caring. There was no balance, no reprieve from these moments. It wasn't helped by our narrator being not enjoyable and trying to make excuses for this due to her trauma, but coming up short over and over again.
Updating - this is now being marketed more clearly as horror, and I am grateful for that (and trust me, I love body horror. It's one of my favorites to consume). Regardless, this does not repair the other issues within the writing and lack of content warning for the reader. The rest of my review I maintain.