Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Darling Venom by Parker S. Huntington

59 reviews

ebancroft's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, good enemies to lovers trope, full of steamy moments (but nothing to full on if you don’t like that). 

I loved the character development and fell more in love with Tate and Charlie and the book went on, I especially enjoyed how different Charlie was for the main love trope in a steamy book. 

A good read, didn’t feel like a 700ish page book. I wish there was a few less contemporary references (felt a little bit cringe at times) but overall I loved it, and I love the way this author writes. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Alcoholism, Infertility, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

innae's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Not what I expected.   It was sad and beautiful and gave me the feels.   

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Self harm, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use, Infertility, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, and Abandonment

maja536372728's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

oh god

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Suicide

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

tatireads02's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death of parent, Infertility, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicide, and Abandonment

samix3reads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

willowmcquerry's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

thekindredreader's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

[2.5 Stars😑] Darling Venom by Parker S. Huntington is a difficult book to review because the topics involved are sensitive and personal, and every person who reads it is going to be affected differently depending on their personal experiences surrounding these topics. I have no personal experience with the kind of loss that occurs in this book, so I made the decision that I cannot and will not say anything about how the author chose to portray the events leading up to the event, the event itself, and then how someone goes through their grieving process and how they put the pieces back together.

I loved the evolution of Tate and Charlie's relationship. It felt like a natural progression--it wasn't a sudden occurance. I liked how they were grieving and trying to put everything together separately but together. However, I don't like it when a character feels like they have to "fix" another character by taking on their guilt and their trauma and their grief. I disagreed when Charlie decided it was her job to fix Tate, and I couldn't get with that whole plot line.

Also, every interaction between Tate and Charlie at his office...just, NO.

This book, it's too long, and at one point, I felt trapped in the same cyclical interaction between Tate and Charlie where nothing changed. I was stuck on a merry-go-round.

Finally, the last issue I had with Darling Venom was how the epilogue confronted the father's secrets. I thought, "there is no freaking way it could have worked out like that."

Overall, my issues with Darling Venom were not related to the subject matter--it was all with the writing. A lot of little things added up, and I did not feel the emotional weight that others have felt reading this book. 
____________________________________
Details:
💘Contemporary romance
⛈Darker themes and elements
👀Dual POV
⏰Time element
🚩TW: suicide and suicidal ideation, parental death (off-page), bullying

Tropes:
🌓Age gap
⚔Enemies-to-lovers
🪢Family ties
📍Forced proximity
🧲Opposites attract
🤐Secrets
🧨Slow burn

Spice:
🔥Explicit sex (hot)
____________________________________
Emoji Ranking System:
🤩Fantastic (4.75-5.00)
😍Great (4.25-4.75)
😊Good, but not great (3.50-4.25)
😒Just OK (2.75-3.50)
😑It's A No (1.00-2.75)
🚫DNF

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Death of parent

deeloro's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book broke my heart. I went in blind and I don’t regret that. I think if I knew some of the plot points that shocked me and hurt me, the read wouldn’t have been the same. I ignored the trigger warnings (because I don’t really have any. If you need them, I won’t suggest skipping them.) since I feel they sometimes give away plot points. I dove in head first and got hurt. But I don’t regret it. I never do.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Self harm

dafefa's review

medium-paced

5.0

I don’t have enough words to say how much I love this book. I know it has some problematic subjects and themes but to me it worked as a almost healing process.
Sometimes we all feel guilty about things we can’t control and see all the different perspectives off life and it’s circumstances, see that no one it’s guilty but we are all responsible for our acts and need to be hold accountable for them, and news flash: by ourselves, because it’s no one job but ours to really understand our faults.
And yes, the smut it’s incredible 🤣
About the characters, I live for complicated minds, cat and mouse relationships. So this was a chefs kiss experience. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, Self harm, Child death, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Cursing, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Bullying

kaleygb's review

challenging dark reflective sad slow-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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Death, Bullying, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Alcoholism

Minor: Infertility, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Child death