Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

64 reviews

mikaylaaaa23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

I thought getting into this book that is was historical romance book, but it's so much more than that. It's magical, but it's realistic, it has fantasy elements at times, and mysterious. I liked a lot of the characters, however I felt like the romance on Opaline's part is over done. The ending wasn't my favorite either, but I think the author is trying to teach a lesson,

it's not alwasys about getting to goal of the book, but it's about the characters and how they come together

. There's a second book coming out that's associeated with this universe, so I'm curious to see how they collide together. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Pregnancy

earthie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed the book overall, but ended up feeling more disappointed by the level of focus on romance across all people and then the parts of it that mixed between reality and not felt like it was more of wishing for a proper ending rather than something that perfectly fit together. It felt more unfortunately forced.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Classism

Moderate: Miscarriage, Violence, Abandonment, and War

beetree's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.25

The beauty of magical realism for me is that it feels a step away from real - this book felt like it was woven out of coincidences and deus ex machina. The way the main love story came together was also weird with both characters feeling a little obtuse. Just talk to each other, yo. You are adults.  Overall, it felt like the book was trying to be too many things and none of them quite worked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Suicide, Murder, and War

geerbeer's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious 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? No

2.75

Er zitten gewoon fouten in het boek... de personages reageren en doen soms mega weird en out of character om het plot maar wat spannender te maken of de romance spanning te geven die gewoon onnodig is.

Naast de negatieve punten was het wel leuk bedacht en interessant uitgevoerd. De setting vind ik ook goed gedaan; de institutionalisering, de oorlog en de sociaal/maatschappelijke tendens etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

annamay1021's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: War

kgreer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: War

alicewolfe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

riverofhorton's review against another edition

I had to stop reading this book. Between the male love interests of both the women being creepy, try-hard incels, and the author telling rather than showing, I just couldn't deal with it. Usually when I DNF, there is a chance I'll return to it in the future, there is no such possibility with this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kaylokay_'s review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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? No

4.0

Absolutely adored this. This brought me back to the feelings I felt during The Echo of Old Books and I loved it. The story felt a bit overly simple at times but was definitely able to reach me emotionally

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Death, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

ak25's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

I liked the historical fiction mixed with fantasy/magic in this story. The research portion of the book definitely makes me think of all the questions about authors that I wouldn’t have thought of before. I also liked the parallel timelines a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy and War

While there are content warnings and I didn’t mark this as dark or emotional because while there were dark and emotional parts, I didn’t feel like the whole book was dark and emotional.