Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen

12 reviews

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

urlocalrachael's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Abandonment, and Alcohol

lindsayerin's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

alexture's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

Sometimes you  want a neat little mystery that does exactly what the genre says it's supposed to do. Sometimes you want it to be super gay. 

If that is the case and if you don't mind a few graphic police beatings of gay men, this is the book you want.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Abandonment

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

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

missjeann's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and War

amibo's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

theonlybaillie's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Death of parent, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kharlan3's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and War

This is a creepy murder mystery with tons of period accurate homophobia. Also,

rodents, poison, shaming of sex work, and attempts at gay conversion

foreverinastory's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

Thank you to Bookish First for a physical ARC and MBC for a finished copy of the book in exchange for an honest review and promotion. All opinions are my own.

Wow loved this!! What a book.

Lavender House is a 1950’s murder mystery. Evander Mills has been recently outed and forced to leave his job as a detective. Andy is struggling with his new reality. When he’s approached by Pearl who has a job for him, he begrudgingly accepts. Then he arrives at the estate, Lavender House, and he’s shocked to see queer people living authentically. As Andy continues to investigate, Lavender House changes his mind about many things, but will he catch the killer before he can open himself up to a new idea of life?

I loved this book!! I need it to be a series because I am so ready to jump in with Andy as he investigates crimes for queer victims. This book was incredibly gripping and while I didn’t always agree with Andy, I found his motives believable and poignant. Also who could I not love Andy, we share a name 😌. I listened to the audiobook through Libro FM and I cannot recommend the narrator enough. Vikas Adam also narrated parts of The Charm Offensive and A Dark & Hollow Star and is now officially on my favorite narrator list! Overall, I loved seeing this mystery unravel and I would highly recommend it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Biphobia, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment