Reviews with content warning for Self harm - The Prison Healer

Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

258 reviews

mollymoll44's review against another edition

3.5

First off, this is NOT YA appropriate. There's so many SA mentions/threats/complications, as well as a good amount of torture. I'm not sure why some things get labeled as YA when the majority of the book is about not age appropriate topics, other than that it's a younger female protagonist. But that's my grievance with how the book is labeled and promoted, not against the content.

Nothing was terrible, but I didn't connect with the pacing or big twist. I also find that books where the fmc continuously only gets by from help from

the mmc/love interest

fall flat for me. I kept waiting for her to learn to be self sufficient, but she couldn't do jack by herself.

The big twist at the end: this is a personal preference, but I find giant twists where there wasn't any hints or easter eggs about the surprise kind of lazy. There was no reason that huge thing wouldn't have entered her inner monologue that is half the story. And I like a clearly defined power system. You go 'oh the powers the royal fam can have are elemental powers', but boom surprise she actually has unheard of healing powers because it's convenient for the plot? Ehhhh I'm over it pretty fast.

ALSO DOESN'T THAT MEAN THEY'RE COUSINS?!?! Not into it.

Overall disappointing, mostly because I had waited almost 5 months for this book from the library.

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cehanzen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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ninasmilliondreams's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious

Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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jennn_3's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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jenteakkerman's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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jjamieww's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-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? No

3.0

It was a pretty basic book to be honest. She was portrayed as having little to no flaws. The love interest was perfect and did everything for her. I am underwhelmed.

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jules09's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

Ok, overall my feeling is: concept 10/10, execution 6/10. It started a little slow and I really thought this would be a 2-star read but the twists in the last third or so of the book bumped it up for me. The concept is what kept me going. I think the writing is pretty so-so, not terrible but there are many instances when things are over-explained, and some of the motivations/dynamics of the characters stretch belief. Dark subject matter was addressed in a very YA way. Kiva is an interesting main, though - the way she views the world through the lens of compassion and generally has an iron control of herself is something I found pretty unique compared to other YA heroines. She has many layers.

I definitely predicted a couple of the reveals, but I also was pretty surprised by some which made for a fun and engaging read once it got going. Interested to read the next one. I’m glad I read this on audio (though the reader was not my favorite) because if I was physically reading, I probably would have given up on it before getting far enough in to be hooked (the 2/3 mark), but for audio it was perfect to have it on in the background of chores, etc.

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