Reviews tagging Domestic abuse

The Grace Year, by Kim Liggett

15 reviews

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Overall, loved this one. Very lord of the flies-esque and like Wilder Girls. My only criticism is that the message is like don't let men decide the fate and everything of women (women are their own entity and should fight for freedom/equity) but a lot of the defining moments for Tierney, the main girl, is centered around men. I could've dealt without

Spoiler

two men being in love with her and her falling in love with a poacher. And the fact that her love for some dude motivated her for survival. The ending was giving me "Katniss learning to love Peeta" vibes with having kids even though in the beginning the main character didn't want any domestic life. The guard thinking she was his property and being entirely unhinged was a nice surprise moment in the book for me tho

. Well written and kept me enthralled the whole time. Couldn't put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Death, Animal death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Infertility, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Vomit, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Pedophilia

luminareads's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Murder, Sexism, and Body horror

Moderate: Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Addiction, Death, Sexual violence, Rape, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, and Physical abuse

This book is heavy, very heavy and has some additional warnings not on the lists: Childbirth, starvation, slut shaming, and forced marriage.

dadimabookernow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow definitely one of the best books I've read for the year!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Death, Toxic friendship, Child death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Blood, and Bullying

Moderate: Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Excrement, Grief, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Vomit, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

haley49's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow, I don’t even know where to begin. This book was a lot. Pretty traumatizing, especially at the beginning but once I got into the plot I couldn’t put it down. I would love to sit down and analyze this book to pieces with someone. It broke me for a while after reading it. Check the trigger warnings because there was a lot but if you’re interested in a feminist dystopian where you don’t know how it’s going to end—definitely check it out! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Trafficking, Vomit, Violence, Body horror, Death, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Blood, Gaslighting, and Child abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Suicide, Cursing, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore

Minor: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Outing, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Excrement

sammba's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

The best book that I vow to never read again. It is not for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Injury/injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

saurahsaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

I love this book. Not a spoiler, but a little trite/maudlin at the end. Still a good ending and an overall very powerful read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Injury/injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Misogyny, and Confinement

Moderate: Suicide, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual harassment and Adult/minor relationship

siglerbooknook's review against another edition

Don't get me wrong. This book is amazing and super well written. But the topics of the story were just too dark and disturbing for me to finish the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

ginalucia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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? Yes

4.0

 The book in 3 sentences:

• Feminism, friendship, and betrayal.
• Gritty, immersive, and frightening.
• Lord of the Flies meets The Power.

My impressions:

I’m not usually one to be outwardly thankful for Amazon’s daily deal but in this case, I truly am. I didn’t know I needed to read The Grace Year until I saw its beautiful cover gracing Amazon’s ‘review generator’ list.

Nothing says ‘go on, give me a go’ like a dystopian book sitting next to an unappealing New Year’s diet book for 99p.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the gritty nature of this book. I had expected an empowering YA dystopian with a little bit of added magic. I was pleasantly surprised. When I say this is Lord of the Flies meets The Power, I’m not joking. The Grace Year makes no apologies, it shows you the best and worst of people, especially those forced to be confined together.

The characters themselves are in constant flux. You either hate or sympathize and then you hate again. This in itself was incredibly refreshing. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where the women within it make constant mistakes and have genuine internal battles with each other and themselves. 

The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 though, was the romance. The author’s attempt at a romantic interest simply didn’t slot into the gritty and horrific story. In fact, it was almost like the book morphed into something else halfway through.

Luckily, this was short-lived, which meant we could get back to the parts that made this book great much quicker. Although it was brief, this part of the story felt unfinished and rushed. A real shame.

The Grace Year was so close to greatness, so close. But it did give me hope that we can mix imperfect characters, horror, an empowering storyline and all be better off for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Injury/injury detail, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Abandonment, Fatphobia, Excrement, Grief, Confinement, Mental illness, Animal death, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Homophobia, and Vomit

nutm3g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

The Grace Year was a wonderfully entertaining, heartbreaking, gruesome, and yet hopeful read that is reminiscent of The Handmaiden's Tale. Set in a society where sixteen year old girls are sent into the wilderness for a year to release their evil magic tied to their womanhood, we are left questioning what truly is the magic found in pages of this book. Tiernay is introduced as angry at the shackles of her birth, where she seems to hold herself distant from other women. As she uncovers the truth of the Grace Year while struggling to survive the horrors faced in the encampment, she also strives to do whatever she can to save her fellow grace year girls (as well as striving to survive for the sake of her younger sisters). The juxtaposition with how she almost views the girls in the same way men do (evil and like sheep/cattle) and her actions towards ensuring their safety even when her life is on the line does a wonderful job indicating the many different facets of how misogyny affects those it oppresses. The romance felt believable for the circumstances (both enemies to lovers and best friends to lovers), though I was a bit devastated on how a certain situation resulted. All the gruesome acts and morbid situations worked itself into a hopeful and open-ended last scene. There is so much more I want to say (really an essay worth of discussions), but I do not want to ruin the book for anyone. I would definitely recommend this book as it was a beautiful and devastating read while leaving me hopeful for the future of Garner County. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Torture, and Vomit

Moderate: Kidnapping, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

hemingwaysdick's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

3.0

Intresting setting, mediocore execution. The 'romance' in the 2nd half of the book is so obnoxious, unrealistic, and sexist it completely canceled out any feminist themes it may have tried to have.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Cannibalism, Death, and Misogyny

Minor: Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Torture

Lots of refrences to triggering content but majority of sensentive content is 'off screen'