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chloseencounter's reviews
90 reviews
Boy Parts by Eliza Clark
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Boy Parts, in the most simply put way, is about an already unhinged woman taking a nosedive into actual insanity. Eileen is horrible but you also love to hate her. I really enjoyed the writing style of this book and the cheeky dialogue, some moments had me cringing in disgust but then I’d be giggling at some exchange on the next page.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
I was so excited to get my hands on this novel and it did not disappoint, I felt as if a lot of the things I wanted more of in My Heart is a Chainsaw where delivered to me on a silver platter in this sequel. More slashing and more Jade and Letha being a duo. The book was actually longer than the first and yet I flew through it in no time. My Heart is a Chainsaw sort of dragged a bit in the middle but it all paid off in this sequel because I already went in loving these characters, which made it all the more enjoyable. As a slasher girl myself I have such deep love and empathy for Jade as a MC and I was so happy to hear from her again, like an old friend, (actually, we graduated the same year so we would’ve definitely been friends in high school.) There were literally moments in this book that made me internally cheer for my girls! Jade and Letha will always have my heart. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the end of the Indian Lake trilogy and of Jade’s journey.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Brother by Ania Ahlborn
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Brother was my second novel by Ania Ahlborn and I always find myself enjoying her narrative voice. To be as vague as possible this book is about a very twisted family and one child who finds himself doubting his capacity for evil. Ania Ahlborn’s books are always so bleak and this was not a departure from that theme, if you want to read a story that’ll ruin your week and an ending that’ll make your stomach drop, this is it. I will say, that in my own personal opinion, I liked The Devil Crept In more even though this is her most talked about novel. Either way this was a solid read. I’m excited to read The Shuddering next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
You've Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was my second novel by Eric LaRocca and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I had read Things Have Gotten Worse Since we Last Spoke previously and didn’t really care for it but I picked this one up regardless just because I love the cover, I was pleased to have really enjoyed it. You’ve Lost a lot of Blood was a collection of poems, transcribed audio recordings, and journal entries written by a serial killer, intertwined with a short storycalled “You’ve Lost a lot of Blood.” The short story was easily my favorite part, I enjoyed that bit so much that the rest was just icing on the cake. This book was weird and different though I can definitely understand why it maybe would not be your cup of tea if you’re looking for something with a more concrete plot. As someone who reads a lot of horror, I always love to pick up something unexpected, so if you’re looking for a story unlike anything you’ve read before with some stunning visuals and gnarly body horror, I think you’d enjoy this. I personally had such a fun time reading!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
challenging
dark
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
This was not only the best book I read this month but one of my new favorite novels of all time. I actually read it twice. The Weight of Blood is a stunning retelling of Stephen King’s Carrie told through the lense of a young black girl in a very racist town. I read this novel and immediately felt this was everything Carrie should’ve been in the first place. The added racial tension gave so much more depth and motivation to each character while keeping the core character archetypes. This book was stunning, emotional, and important. I would recommend The Weight of Blood to literally everyone, though it’s not very graphic I will say it’s painful. I could see why it would be a difficult read for those effected by racism. I actually cried until I thought I was gonna vom near the end but then I still picked this book up and read it a second time this month as well as ordered my own copy
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana
dark
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
2.0
This book reminded me why I need to stop taking recs from booktok. Every other book video I see told me that this is the most disturbing book so and so has ever read, so morbid curiosity got the best of me. The description was very interesting to me so I was really hoping for this novel to be everything I was looking for and more but unfortunately it just…wasn’t. Partly it was my own fault because I went in knowing very little about this book, I was expecting the “extreme horror” aspect to be a lot more visceral violence and not just generally upsetting. So you can imagine that I was a little caught off guard by some of the content.
What I did enjoy about this book was the second half, I really liked the more folk horror aspects of this story. That bit was more gripping to me than just learning about how much the MC sucks. The latter half of this novel is the only reason I’d rate it a 2.0 at all.
I was also quite put off by the way the two sisters where written. It felt very much like the sexually promiscuous sister is horrible and evil and the “innocent” and infantilized sister is pure and a perfect angel. It was a very unrealistic portrayal of women in general and kind of a weird vibe even if the author didn’t mean it that way.
What I did enjoy about this book was the second half, I really liked the more folk horror aspects of this story. That bit was more gripping to me than just learning about how much the MC sucks. The latter half of this novel is the only reason I’d rate it a 2.0 at all.
I was also quite put off by the way the two sisters where written. It felt very much like the sexually promiscuous sister is horrible and evil and the “innocent” and infantilized sister is pure and a perfect angel. It was a very unrealistic portrayal of women in general and kind of a weird vibe even if the author didn’t mean it that way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Blood
Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 35%.
First book I’ve ever DNF. I’m on an extreme horror kick currently so I wanted to give this a try but almost halfway through this book I still felt as if it was written by an edgy teenage boy.
It seems like reviews are either “this is the worst book I ever read, I love it.” or “this is the worst book I ever read, I hate it”, but all the good reviews have no commentary about the actual substance of the book, they’re all just “well that was gross.” I understand feeling as if a book must be good because it gave you a visceral reaction but l personally need a little bit of substance with my violence.
It seems like reviews are either “this is the worst book I ever read, I love it.” or “this is the worst book I ever read, I hate it”, but all the good reviews have no commentary about the actual substance of the book, they’re all just “well that was gross.” I understand feeling as if a book must be good because it gave you a visceral reaction but l personally need a little bit of substance with my violence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Any Man by Amber Tamblyn
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
Any Man was a stunning and unique experience. I’d 100% recommend the audio book because it’s extremely immersive.
I really enjoyed hearing all the different POVs of the antagonist’s victims, this was a very raw look into all the various outcomes that can come from surviving sexual assault, weather it’s dealing by humor, family, control, emptiness, self destructive behavior, or even suicide. While the characters were interesting and their storylines were heartbreaking, the most special thing to me about this novel is the look at what women so often deal with when faced with sexual violence but through the eyes of a man. Unfortunately female victims of sexual assault are all too common, we hear about it so much in fact, our society has become desensitized to the sexual abuse women face and how it’s handled by the public. Flipping the narrative and using men as the victims not only opens up an important conversation about men who have experienced sexual violence and how they are treated but also made the subject feel much more shocking. Then I suppose we can ask ourselves…why is that? Why is being sexually assaulted as a women so commonplace that it doesn’t feel nearly as gut wrenching to read?
The most eye opening part in my opinion was the very last bit, when our serial rapist responds to the journalist, in which she replies with a lot of grotesque language about how a women might think about men as essentially prey or even nonhuman. Then she sends the same exact paragraph replacing the pronouns with she/her, it was sort of appalling to see how different those paragraphs felt right next to one another. Why one was shocking and the other…felt sort of normal. As a women it was easy for me to read the paragraph and think “yea that’s just how men often think of us”, and yet the same exact paragraph but with men as the group being preyed upon felt much more abhorrent.
At the end of the day, I think that ultimately there wasn’t one predator but multiple women predators. The story seemed to lump these people into one frightening amalgamation of a women because how could society believe that there may be multiple women out there preying upon men, it must be a repeat offender. However, when a women is attacked it could literally be “any man”, which is a very smart way to make a statement about how both male and female victims of sexual violence are seen unfairly by the general public.
I really enjoyed hearing all the different POVs of the antagonist’s victims, this was a very raw look into all the various outcomes that can come from surviving sexual assault, weather it’s dealing by humor, family, control, emptiness, self destructive behavior, or even suicide. While the characters were interesting and their storylines were heartbreaking, the most special thing to me about this novel is the look at what women so often deal with when faced with sexual violence but through the eyes of a man. Unfortunately female victims of sexual assault are all too common, we hear about it so much in fact, our society has become desensitized to the sexual abuse women face and how it’s handled by the public. Flipping the narrative and using men as the victims not only opens up an important conversation about men who have experienced sexual violence and how they are treated but also made the subject feel much more shocking. Then I suppose we can ask ourselves…why is that? Why is being sexually assaulted as a women so commonplace that it doesn’t feel nearly as gut wrenching to read?
At the end of the day, I think that ultimately there wasn’t one predator but multiple women predators. The story seemed to lump these people into one frightening amalgamation of a women because how could society believe that there may be multiple women out there preying upon men, it must be a repeat offender. However, when a women is attacked it could literally be “any man”, which is a very smart way to make a statement about how both male and female victims of sexual violence are seen unfairly by the general public.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book began in a way that I thought I knew exactly where it was going to go but flipped so I could’ve never predicted what would happen. When you intake so much horror it can all start to feel similar and I’m impressed with what this story accomplished. I was drawn in by the POV of a cat but enjoyed this read more than I could’ve ever anticipated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail