Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

18 reviews

katiedid4's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Murder

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

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

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

onemamareads's review against another edition

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

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

3.75

Read my full review here:  https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/lavender-house

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Content Warnings

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

itsapaxycab's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Beautiful writing, queer history, and a mystery? What a treat. This was an amazing story that really grabbed me and kept pulling me in. Untangling this family’s messy threads, the struggles of being queer in the 1950’s, all with a intriguing mystery underneath (on on top, depending on how you look at it) this is definitely a must read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent

psitstorrie's review

dark mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

This was excellent. The characters were all well developed and distinct, and the way events unfolded were clever. I love a good murder mystery, but what really stood out to me was the commentary on what being queer is like in that time period and what that means to each character, namely Andy.  Even though I know what happens, I know I’m going to keep coming back to this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Alcohol

Homophobic slurs common for the 1950s

birdomens's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Great murder mystery combined with exploring the queer experience in 50s San Francisco and the concept of found family. Great fun as a read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

1undercover's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I loved this book. Excellent mystery. Competent but human detective. Interesting characters and a message about family and found family. The homophobia is tough though - watch out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Alcohol