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cryptofauna's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
erinreadsstuff's review
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
cowmingo's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
arthur_ant18's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault and Alcohol
Minor: Self harm
horrorandscience's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Bishop, Kansas is a small town that was founded on blood, and ever since, they’ve been plagued by horrible storms. While they are indeed in tornado alley, these storms feel different… sentient, even.
This book has SO many things I love in a story:
-a small town
-a cult
-a mystery
-a group of girls solving a mystery
-secrets on secrets
-normalizing queer relationships 🖤
It is a young adult story, so the story is based on younger main characters, but they do have to grow up pretty fast since all of their mothers have gone missing. It’s a horror book with thrilling parts and a sad underlying story. What most people love.
The only problem I had with this story is that it was slow at first, then moved way too quickly. Just a bit of a pacing issue, but it didn’t take much joy out of the story. I also was confused between the timelines.
Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this advanced review copy. When Darkness Blooms releases on February 21st.
CW for blood, death, murder, grief, injury, sexual assault, rape (not on page), gaslighting, and police brutality
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Police brutality
dogearedqueer's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Abandonment
Moderate: Gore, Rape, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Death, and Fire/Fire injury
bookiesncreme's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape
hollyk's review
- 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
2.0
I wanted to love this book. I truly did. I love a creepy small town vibe with paranormal elements. But this book had so many flaws and inconsistencies that it wasn't enjoyable.
There's a fair amount of diversity--a Latina main character, lesbian MC, two sapphic LIs, and diverse side characters/townspeople. I also enjoyed the girls' friendships, although we don't see how exactly these bonds were forged beyond living together, and the strife within their friend group doesn't make sense at the beginning.
All four girls' POVs read the same way, and the only way to differentiate them was to remember the chapter number (the book cycled through the four in the same order, no complaint there) or the general plotline of each girl. Personality-wise, they all seemed the same because their personalities felt underdeveloped.
In terms of plot, the underlying plot of a curse in a small town was really interesting, but all of the moving parts solely created confusion and did not enhance the plot. A list of examples:
-Timeline: When everything happened is confusing--That Night seems to refer to several nights which defeats the purpose of there being "That Night." Unless I'm missing something, which is fully possible because of the lack of clarity.
-Lack of exposition. Normally this isn't a huge problem, in media res is a thing, but since the plot goes from 0 to 60 at the 60% mark, at that point, the reader still doesn't have a baseline or enough information to piece together the underlying story before being thrown into the action despite ample time to do so.
-Inconsistencies: When Whitney and Eleanor started dating is very confusing--it sounds like they met the night of the bonfire, but Whitney's mom was aware of Eleanor and wanted to meet her?
-Psychic powers?? Suddenly the girls seem to have psychic powers?
-Mother Abandonment:
-Medical inconsistencies:
-Deeper subjects relegated to surface-level: SA and police brutality as plot points.
-Police brutality: Alma is taken by the police for Whitney resisting arrest? And Whitney is concerned about Alma being beaten and harmed because she's Black, but then when Whitney goes to bust her out, Alma is just sitting in a chair perfectly fine? This felt completely unnecessary--while it's important to acknowledge police brutality, Whitney does nothing to try to help her crush and just says that she's worried because of police brutality. It seemed very performative and was brought up for no real reason other than to bring it up?
-The curse
I don't think this is the worst book ever, I will reiterate that I enjoyed the underlying plot, but there were a lot of moving parts that took away from the potential of this book.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review:)
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Police brutality and Colonisation
debussy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence