A review by skillyillian
Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

Did not finish book. Stopped at 59%.
The triggers in this book are fucking endless and I can't take it anymore, the story borderline does not exist around all of the triggers in here. Check the list here before you dive in because it's trauma after trauma, some violent and some sexual but it seems to be mostly both and there's no list at the front of the book. Do not go in blind if you have triggers, my friends. I loved A Study in Drowning so jumped into my next Reid and this was....not what I expected. I love an author with variety but there's absolutely no warning with this book, before the story or anywhere else, before she dives into stuff like bulimia and child SA right on the page. Asid was NOT like this so I had no idea what I was getting into. It's on me for not checking the tw list, but the dnf here is also bc of that. I wouldn't have even started if I'd known there was going to be child prostitution on the page in graphic detail. I own at least one other Reid book but it might be a while before I crack into it bc I doubt I will literally ever pick this one back up again. I'm usually not very squeamish or easy to trigger but it's like every bad thing to happen to someone has happened to marlinchen and I can only take so much. I have reached my limit.

There are some really great quotes here and I like how she was showing how people handle shame and disgust differently. It's just too gruesome for where I'm at mentally rn.
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