Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

80 reviews

radler's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Death of parent, Grief, Police brutality, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcohol

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

Moderate: Alcoholism and Death of parent

abbennsky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

newandhorrible's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Homophobia

katanai's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

i mean. wow. a page turner. a heart tugger. loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Outing, Police brutality, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

cyndi1966's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Outing, Police brutality, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Murder and Death

Minor: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Animal death

suzreadsalot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.0

I’m not a big mystery reader but I really enjoyed this book. Is was cozy and intriguing at the same time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Child abuse

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

Moderate: Alcohol

Homophobic slurs common for the 1950s

mikarala's review against another edition

inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

I didn't hate reading this and I like the idea of making queer mysteries and romances and other types of genres, but unfortunately I just don't think this book was very interesting. The characters were quite derivative and flat, and the plot was really predictable. I'm not even someone who reads a lot of mystery novels, and I thought the reveal was pretty underwhelming and predictable. Honestly, most of the characters were never even suspicious, and that took a lot of the tension out of the story.

The lack of actual intrigue in the main mystery might be forgivable if other elements of the story, like the exploration of queer identity, were more interesting and insightful, but those are treated as window dressing rather than being truly explored. Frankly I just don't think there's much to see here. Again, I don't actively dislike this book, I just really can't recommend anything about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Violence, and Animal death

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