sariereads's review against another edition
- 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
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
annagerman's review against another edition
- 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
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.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
- 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
Moderate: Pedophilia and Child abuse
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual assault
awdrummer's review
- 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
Graphic: Murder and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Abortion
r_o_s_e's review
- 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
If you enjoy occultism, heavy religious themes and being VERY mad in thrillers, then this is the book for you!!
Woven with dark themes of greed, power and oppression, this book tickled me in just the right way 😈👿
THANK YOU NetGally and Aria & Aries for providing an ARC of this book
Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcoholism
Minor: Blood, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Animal death
amanda_reads13's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
This one just didn't live up to my expectations. The plot seemed extremely interesting, but it just didn't come together for me. There was too much going on in this book. The romance, plus supernatural beliefs, cults, murder, coverups, drug running, investigations... It was a lot. The cult angle could have been so interesting, it just fell flat and felt very surface level. Why not delve more into that? Why bring up this supernatural element too? I think overall it was pretty predictable and didn't pull me in.
Spoiler
It was pretty easy to figure out that these men were in on the drug running. The whole cult aspect seemed to be an afterthought. I mean, they weren't really in a cult, they were just a group of abusive, greedy misogynistic, and superstitious men who were running drugs out of the local hospital. It also wasn't very surprising that Ruth killed his dad or that Everett was the killer. I mean they both have some serious issues from their fucked up childhood.The back and forth between Ruth and Everett was very frustrating. Her obsession with Twilight was really weird, like she couldn't distinguish reality from a book. They weren't very well developed characters and I just didn't really care about what happened to them.
Tropes: friends to lovers, cult, small town
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Misogyny
lexim's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Physical abuse, Abortion, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault
Minor: Pedophilia, Violence, Sexual content, and Death of parent
markedwithanm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Drug use, Sexual violence, Animal death, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Rape, and Religious bigotry