Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead

18 reviews

jessn13's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Child abuse, and Violence

sarahmcg's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Loved this atmospheric, mystery/thriller from Ashley Winstead. I’ve really enjoyed all of her novels! This book gave Where the Crawdads Sing vibes but… darker… with a lot of Twilight references 🤔 I loved seeing Ruth’s character arc, especially seeing the contrast between past & present. And you’ve gotta love a morally grey MMC 😏

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia

sariereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

aileron's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Physical abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Pedophilia

annagerman's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

True blood meets true detective. Part psychological thriller, part dark romance, part southern gothic fairy tale - this book combines so many elements from different genres to create immaculate dark creepy vibes. The writing is really immersive and detailed. 

I loved Ruth and Ever, they truly felt like complex flawed humans with a believable love and relationship.
Ruth's "corruption" arc was wonderfully structured and paced.
Some of the description of Ever were particularly... Tasty 😩

The weakest point of the book for me was the character of Reverent Cornier. Similarly to the character of Don Rockwell in the last housewife, I feel like the author's "charismatic larger-than-life male leader" characters fall kinda short. Their magnetism is more tell than show. 

There were one plotpoint that sort of felt out of place (the biker gang shoot-out was both unnecessary and over-the-top imo). Also a few of the referrals were a bit lazy (Microfilm? Reporter phonecall? 😓)
But those are minor complaints in the greater scheme of things out.

Spoiler

I personally don't mind open endings, so I was fine with it. It definetly had me frantically searching for more pages and making sure I didn't skip any somehow. I think the characters reached their conclusions and there wasn't much point in dragging it out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Pedophilia

anniesbookpicks's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia and Child abuse

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual assault

awdrummer's review

dark mysterious reflective 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

This was my first audiobook as an adult, and what a gripping experience it was. While the beginning’s slow pacing tested my patience, this southern gothic tale is a masterclass in blending religious fanaticism, myths, paganism, and two unlikely outcasts finding solace in each other. The constant Twilight references, though, were an unnecessary distraction from the main plot. However, the plethora of unexpected twists, including a jaw-dropping ending, more than made up for it.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book if you’re a fan of:

• Non-linear timelines

• Vampires

• Mysteries

• Southern lore

• Dark, gothic novels

Here’s my haiku:

Vampires in the South,

Southern gothic, dark and deep,

Twists that left me awed

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion

bellebookcorner's review

dark mysterious 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

3.0

I’ve seen a lot of 5 stars review regarding this book so I went in with quite a high expectation. The premise also sounds promising with a small town setting, creepy woods and dark secrets. 

 

At first, it wasn’t so bad and it started off with a strong opening as well. I’m genuinely interested with the plot, the world building and getting to know the main characters. 

The story is told from dual timeline – the past and the present, it would switch every few chapters between those timeline. 

 

As for the main character, Ruth (the FMC) supposed to be in her 20s, she's also smart and I enjoy following her digging out those dark and ugly secrets around her town.  But at times, Ruth can be too naive and doesn't sound like her age. 

 

It started out as a mystery thriller but somewhere in the middle, it started to appear like a mystery drama instead.  The pacing felt slightly odd - it can be quick and interesting then turn into slow and dragging at some points. 

I started to lose interest and would get confuse with the timeline sometimes and listening to the audiobook wasn't really a huge help.   

 

Although I have to admit, the last few chapters are quite intense. 

The ending was totally unexpected, I had to listen twice to convince myself that it actually ends with the BIGGEST CLIFF-HANGER EVER….. 

I felt slightly disappointed with how it ends, I actually want to see what happen to the main characters after all the hardships they went through in that town. 

 

I was a huge fan of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife written by the same author but unfortunately, I didn’t fully enjoy this book as much as that one. 

I would still check out other books by this author, heard The Last Housewife was also really good so I’ll definitely give it another try in the future. 

 

I received an advanced audiobook copy for free through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Rape

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, Domestic abuse, and Pedophilia

tbrplaylist's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

elizabethgreads's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Twilight Meets Bonnie and Clyde set in Coastal Louisiana. Dark southern gothic novel with a tinge of romantic tension. The pacing was phenomenal and the build up was paid off with a jaw dropping climax.  I loved the ending and that is hard to nail for me personally in a thriller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Rape