Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling

10 reviews

mothmania's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jillyfae's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Medical content

typedtruths's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 i love strange books. i love wicked women. i love caitlin starling... but this didn't quite do it for me.


➸ Trigger warnings for

misogyny, attempted arranged marriage recounted, domestic abuse mentioned, alcohol consumption, drug abuse (on-page), smoking, miscarriage mentioned, body horror, emesis, physical injuries including eye trauma (intentional but nonconsensual chemically-induced vision loss), plague, murder of a father and brothers recounted, murder and attempted murder (on-page), physical assault mentioned, whipping, torture, poisoning (theme), kidnapping and captivity, and fire*.

*Context: A boat full of infected sailors is set on fire to prevent a plague outbreak. In the opening scene, the protagonist observes the boat fire from the shore

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▷ Representation: Evelyn (mc) & Violetta (sc) are sapphic.

Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

➸ Trigger warnings for misogyny, attempted arranged marriage recounted, domestic abuse mentioned, alcohol consumption, drug abuse (on-page), smoking, miscarriage mentioned, body horror, emesis, physical injuries including eye trauma (intentional but nonconsensual chemically-induced vision loss), plague, grief and loss depiction, accidental poisoning of a mother recounted, murder of a father and brothers recounted, murder and attempted murder (on-page), physical assault mentioned, whipping, torture, poisoning (theme), kidnapping and captivity, and fire*. *Context: A boat full of infected sailors is set on fire to prevent a plague outbreak. In the opening scene, the protagonist observes the boat fire from the shore.

applepieandeve's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction

aardwyrm's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

All atmosphere, and it's good atmosphere, so it doesn't matter too much that the very little plot there is wouldn't hold together in a stiff breeze. The supernatural stuff is entirely mysterious until a giant info dump at the end, which is genre standard and kind of how Starling does it, in my experience, but it's perfectly respectable. Evelyn herself is a bit of a weak link, as she's presented as a conniving, ruthless strategist, but on page all we see her do is act in the most suspicious way possible and make the worst available decisions no matter how little sense they make. But the vibes are the star of the book. All the grim, oozing decadence is very effective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

bethsiekierawalker's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement and War

f18's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Torture and Medical content

queer tragedy

nullandvoidlibrary's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide

andicbuchanan's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Grief