Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Moth to a Flame by Ashley Antoinette

9 reviews

trizk's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

2.25

"You deserve everything that's coming to you." 

The novella, "Moth to a Flame" follows Raven as she navigates her late teens to adulthood in a toxic relationship with Mizan. 

This book can only be described as a whirlwind, I found myself charmed by the humor while simultaneously irritated at the situations Raven wound up in

because of yknow who.

. Ashley Antoinette does a good job showing the dangers of staying in abusive situations and the havoc and damage it can bring to life.

How the sex scenes were described in this book wasn't really my thing, and my copy had a handful of spelling errors or the sentences were structured wrong.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed the story's pacing and was incredibly impressed by how Antoinette can make the reader care for multiple characters in such a short amount of pages. 

Definitely recommend for readers to check trigger warnings before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Classism

kendramekalle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow! Just wow! I went into this kind of blind. This book was the talk of a FB group I’m in and I wanted to see what the hype was all about. The themes were difficult, and our main female character Raven stressed me out. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Stalking and Gaslighting

themoodyambr's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

This book took me through the wringer of emotions. Idk if I’m going to go back to Ashley Antoinette anytime soon 😭 my nerves are SHOT ! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

scorttarius's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense

1.0

This book was certainly not for me. I only finished for the messiness but it was too much.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

jadorereadss's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5

This book absolutely broke me! Raven definitely made me very upset till about 75% into the book, but then I was proud of her. It was such a bad situation she was in and I really hated that for her because no person deserves to go through that. But the ending?!

why would you do that? 😭 why would you let Ethic and Raven get right to each other, he finally learned the truth why she left him, just to have his own goons kill her?! I knew she was gonna die bc I’ve read the Ethic series but still, my heart broke. Nikki didn’t deserve that. I will say that I like the way Ethic decided to revenge Raven

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

remie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Body shaming and Miscarriage

janjanjukebox's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Moth To A Flame by Ashley Antoinette 2010 PB 433 pages, 2020 Anniversary PB 306 pages, Ebook 309  pages, 8 hours 41 minutes narrated by Nicole Small 

Precedes Ethic and Butterfly series 

Genre: Romance, Urban, Drama, Adult Fiction, Cultural > African-American; Dark, Sociology > Abuse; Contemporary, Suspense 

Featuring: Flint, Michigan; Kansas City, Missouri; Stupidity, Drug Use, Graphic Sex, Rape, Gun Violence, Domestic Violence, Abuse 

Rating as a movie: N-17 for adult content 

My rating: Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐¼ 
 Audiobook Version ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (will get a separate review) 

My thoughts: * I started with the Audible version of this book and after switching to ebook I discovered the audiobook was Abridged despite it's Unadbriged label. I ended up with 4 books, 3 were identical despite publication dates. 

8% - Gunshots in the club? So it's one of those stories, so far it's better written than G-Spot by Noire, so I'll give it a chance but these type of stories get on my nerves because the girls be making no sense.
 60% (ch. 13) - SMH.
 60% ebook - the audiobook on Audible says it's Unadbriged but there are entire passages missing, in addition to lines here and there. In the ebook Morgan is deaf, on the audiobook she's not. I don't know if the background stories and addition information was added or edited. So now I'm going to have to checkout both books to get the real story. 🙄 [original 2010 version and the 2020 Anniversary edition]
 88% (267 of 309, Ch. 20) - At this point I have been reading 2 different stories, it's going to be an interesting review. 

Print Version: The story was actually good even though I'm not a fan of crime family books. No surprise, Raven got on my nerves. There were some issues like why not get a new phone and how near end of the print version Morgan shouted a name but was unable to speak before that. With the additional context found in the printed version I understood the characters more. 

Audiobook Version: This audiobook was subpar, I knew it was a 3 star story that lacked a soild foundation. There were some inconsistencies that were working my nerve, so 60% in, at the start of chapter 13, I got the ebook. I browsed chapter 2 and not only was the inconsistencies missing, there were several lines that weren't in the audiobook. A secondary character, Morgan, is deaf, all of the dialogue that supports this has been removed from the audio version although it's a huge part of the plot for Butterfly. I had to reread this book, in chapter 1 there are 5 pages on how Raven's parents meet that were eradicate from the audiobook, it's also missing Mizan's background story involving his mother and brother that provides motivation for his targeting of Benjamin. When you read the actual book you realize the Unabridged audiobook is a lie, it's actually a poorly written Abridged version that removes most of character development and severely damages the plot and quality of the story in the process. The foundation it was missing was there in print and removed from the audiobook. Every paragraph is missing several lines in the audiobook and many words have been replaced. Also the chapter numbers are off. This production owes the author a huge apology for butchering her story, which is 4¼ stars without the changes. 

Recommend to others?: Yes but only the print version. The audiobook is weak. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

macknificent's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is one of those books that you have to rate for what it is and not what it could be. What it is: a book written by a very young author, for an audience that wants to see their lives on the page but doesn't expect great literary works. From that perspective, this is a 5 star read! However, my ratings also indicate who I would recommend it to. I have to take a star away because only fans of the genre or those familiar with the culture could appreciate this work. 

Having said all that, this book was well worth the hype. The plot was wild, the spice was spicy, and the whole book made me feel like I was back in my early 20s 😅 I see why so many are still heaping praise on it to this day. Also, Ethic really is everything so I'll be reading that series next for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, and Suicide attempt