Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

48 reviews

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

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

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

larareads's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Lesbophobia, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Grief, and Animal death

saholland's review against another edition

inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicide and Murder

shaunashares's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Animal death

smalika's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Suicide, Animal death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

leanniefae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Violence, Alcohol, Biphobia, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, and Outing

Minor: Blood, Animal death, Gun violence, Grief, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide, War, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, and Cursing

foxblood's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This was a fun, quick read. I’m always a sucker for queer historical fiction, and it being a murder mystery didn’t hurt. I hope Rosen creates more novels in this world - I’d be happy to check out Andy’s other investigations. 

Check TWs beforehand though, there’s some heavy stuff in this (although accurate to the time period, not done out of shock value).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Homophobia, and Police brutality

Moderate: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts