Reviews tagging 'Death'

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

71 reviews

adearen's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Biphobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Classism

growintogardens's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I hadn't read a gay noir before, but it's interesting and I'll happily read more. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Alcohol

kappafrog's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this. I read it very quickly because I wanted to find out the answer to the mystery. However, the main character had me in two minds. There were heart-wrenching aspects to his story, and there were times when it made me really smile seeing how much he was starting to accept himself. However, I did not find it enjoyable to read a character arc that consisted of "cop realises how bad the stuff he lets other cops get away with was." I'm glad he realised and learned and found a way to move forward in life, but I was with Judy on this one. It was hard to sympathzie with him, especially after

he remembered letting cops get away with raping lesbians. Jesus, that was bad, and just immediately brushed past.

I'm a little mixed on how the end played out as well. It seemed like Alice was way too obvious a candidate from the start, so I had fun thinking about which of the others it was going to be. But then when it turned out to be Alice and she was just a serial murderer, well, it was a little meh for me. The boldness of a story where almost all the characters are queer so one of them gets to be the villain without being the token queer villain got diluted by it being the only straight suspect who did it after all. A fair subversion, given the long history of queer and queer-coded villains, but less thought-provoking and innovative than it seemed at first. Also, we really just glossed over how Margo covered for her mother's murder for YEARS, and how Pearl killed a private investigator at the end of the book!

I really loved the way the setting of the house was described, with all the flowers and trees and the sense of seclusion. My favourite character was definitely Pat. I would have been happy to see more of his life! I liked the doctor-turned-bartender a lot too. Usually I gravitate towards queer women in books, especially historical ones, but it was harder to connect with the women in this book. I think it was just obvious that the author was writing what he knew with the queer men so their feelings and personalities shone through a lot more strongly than those of the women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, and War

phoebenotbuffay's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

3.75

The way the author develops the MMC turns this book into a bit of a coming of age story. Very poignant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Gaslighting

barometz's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Self harm, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content and Blood

kam_h's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I think this book was a pretty good start to a series.  I enjoyed the characters a lot, and a queer 1950s mystery is definitely my cup of tea. I think my biggest disappointment was the mystery itself it wasn't very shocking or hard to figure out. However, this book was used to introduce a lot of characters I assume will be reoccurring, and if my suspicions are correct, this was more of an introductory novel than just a mystery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexism, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, and Alcohol

thebookishgamerr's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Murder

thatchickengirl23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Medical content

cwerber's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

I loved this book. A lavender noir, if you will. 

The main character, Andy Mills, gets kicked off the police force after being found in a raid. With no job, friends, or prospects, Andy spends his days drinking before contemplating throwing himself into the waters of San Francisco.  

That is until he is approached by Pearl to investigate the potential murder of her wife. 

There are lots of internalized homophobia and external homophobia. And violence because of said homophobia. And not like glossed over violence. You will feel each hit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

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

4.0

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen is a murder mystery set in the 1950s, where a queer, ex-inspector is hired to uncover the truth about the death of a soap tycoon. At the titular Lavender House, the Lamontaine family lives openly queer lives - but only within its walls. But Irene's death casts suspicion on everyone in the family. 

Rosen does an excellent job evoking the brutality of the 1950s and the importance of queer communities. Evander "Andy" Mills starts out isolated, ready to drink his life away after he's caught in a queer club and fired from his job. At Lavender House, he starts to feel a part of the community, and discovering who he is. I liked that this book touches on lots of different family experiences, and the toll hiding can take. 

On the murder mystery front, I enjoyed Andy as a detective. He's smart and tenacious, asking tough questions and drawing out secrets. With this being an isolated, closed-circle mystery, the murderer was rather obvious, somehow so much so that I initially discounted them, but it really couldn't have been anyone else. Still, there were interesting touches and some surprises. 

I'm very interested to read the next book and see what happens with Andy next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Alcohol

Minor: Religious bigotry and Murder