Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead

4 reviews

cc_shelflove's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

Overall, this was just okay... but that last chapter was WHOOOAAA! If you liked All the Sinners Bleed, you will probably like this book, too. Personally, I really hate books with religion as a central theme. I'm not sure why I keep trying to read them. 😅

Ruth and Ever became friends on a dark night in the swamp. The reader discovers early on that Ruth killed someone (albeit in self defense) and Ever helped her hide the body. Six years later, she's dating a cop. Okay, girl! Ruth and Ever's system of checks and balances is a little screwed up. Do two wrongs make a right?

I was not very in love with this book. At times, I felt I was reading it to read it. I really enjoyed the relationship between these two individuals, however. Those who appreciate town politics and religious opinions will like it more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, and Drug use

r_o_s_e's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

<b> Midnight is the Darkest Hour </b> is a twisted, unhinged beast

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  

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Content Warnings

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

dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.5

In the small town of Bottom Springs, religion and the local pastor run everything. When a skull is found in the swamp and "pagan" symbols are  carved in trees nearby, the town panics thinking that a supernatural being is responsible. Everyone in the town turns to the Pastor for guidance. That is, everyone except his own daughter, Ruth, and her outcast BFF, Everett. 

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

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Content Warnings

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

markedwithanm's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

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