Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Darling Venom by Parker S. Huntington

17 reviews

dlsmk's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

lisa07xie's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book destroyed me! I have never cried so early in a book or related to a book more! I don't know if this makes sense but this book helped me a lot somehow it was so healing to read and sometimes I broke down and I was really scared that they wouldn't end up together but they did and I loved it! I have never felt something like this after reading a book and I don't know what it is that I feel but omg this book it deserves more fame I LOVE IT!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

gphemsley's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

kittens_say_meoww's review

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Where to begin, maybe by addressing the very few things I didn’t like. This book is…devastating. I cried often. It’s so well done and not at all what I expected. I will be buying a physical copy to cherish. The biggest cons are the HEA epilogue and the marketing both of which come off as cheap and inauthentic. This is marketed as romance and I suppose it technically is. However, it’s more apt to say it’s about grief, and flawed humans, and complexity of the human experience. It’s a book within a book. Why this story is marketed as dark romance is beyond me. It’s not “spicy” as it’s marketed and intimate scenes (albeit one) seem pretty authentic to everyday life. The cover(s) don’t represent the story, at all. It doesn’t even match the description of any of the characters. Moving on, some reviews mention the length of this book. And I can see that for a “best friends brother romance” it would seem long. But, as I’ve said that’s not actually a good description of the book in the first place. That being said, it feels like the ending was rushed. Without spoiling, it’s the classic everything sucks and is pulled together in the last chapter and the bow is the HEA 5 page epilogue. I hate thattt and in this particular story it cheapened it. Some of the angst in the middle (particularly as it pertains to Terri) could have been cut out to give more attention to a more authentic ending that honored all that the main characters had been through. All in all, I loved this book and it will be hard to move away from. I desperately wish I knew someone that had read it so I could talk about it with them. Best of luck, it won’t be what you expect it to be if tiktok sent you to it. Please realize it’s a messy, devastating, not overly exaggerated story of broken families and trauma and death. Even though it betrays some plot points, please  check triggers if you’re sensitive to almost anything. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

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.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief

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

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

annica_fourie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug use, and Abandonment

Minor: Infertility

bbygirl21's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely completely loved this book. It had me on a complete emotional rollercoaster. I loved all the characters literally (aside from the characters at Kellen and Charlotte's school but they're not in a big chunk of this story so it's fine) even the ones you think you'll hate in the beginning by the end of the book you love them, flaws and everything. I literally could not stop reading this since I started it aside from the necessary things like eating.

The build up to Charlotte and Tate getting together was amazing. I felt their chemistry through and through even through all their hate for each other in the beginning. 

And Leah (Charlotte's sister) I found myself rooting for her on her journey as well with love and acceptance of herself and letting others in after heartbreak and emotional/physical scarring. And Jonah is the most patient man I every had the pleasure of reading about. He understood Leah's insecurities and loves her unconditionally despite her trying to push him away.

By the end we got three love stories. Kellen and Charlotte (first love), Tate and Charlotte (soulmates drawn together by fate) and then Leah and Jonah (the patient love that takes determination and persistence). I loved reading every single one of their love stories no matter how shortlived or long lasting they ended up being.

I honestly can't recommend this book enough. I just highly suggest checking the trigger/content warnings because it gets quite heavy throughout the entire book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

Minor: Bullying, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Stalking

ruthhmarieereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

northernbooknerd's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

***Disclaimer***
PLEASE check trigger warnings before reading.

I realized, with depressing clarity, that she wasn’t the venom at all, she was the antidote, but the quantities were off.

My Thoughts ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Do you ever finish a book and have the desire to turn right back to page one and reread it instantly? Well that's how I felt after being utterly destroyed by this book. I am also finding it difficult to collect my thoughts on this one, and I'm not sure that waiting to complete a review will make much of a difference because whatever I say couldn't possibly do this book justice.

Don't let people fool you into believing this is just a spicy romance story. I've seen it advertised as such a few times, and frankly that does this story a huge disservice. Yes, there are some spicy scenes in this book, but it is not the primary focus, nor should it be. In my opinion the romance, while great, as a whole took the backseat to the more important themes explored throughout the story such as depression, loneliness, loss, grief, and guilt.

With this book being written through multiple POVs you are able to see how our perception and idea of “reality” is not always accurate and certainly not the full story. It also does a great job of depicting how everyone deals with grief and guilt in their own way, highlighting the importance of having empathy for each other.

Huntington has a way of making you feel every emotions her characters do. When they hurt, you hurt. When they are conflicted, you question everything. When they are happy, you feel joy.

As I went into this as blindly as possibly the plot truly took me for a right and there were moments I HATED it (while still being fully engrossed and committed). I think this is part of why the story had such a profound impact on me, dredging up all of my emotions. For this reason, if you have checked the triggers and feel you can handle reading about them, I'd suggest reading this book without looking up plot details.

Final Thoughts

Beautifully heartbreaking is the best way I can think to simply describe this story. Darling Venom may very well be my top read of 2022 so far, it is certain a book that will stay with me and I fully intend on purchasing a physical copy to reread and annotate.

A love story that never happened. A love story that never would.

Format: Audiobook 🎧
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narration: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Dual)
Spice: 🔥🔥
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Who would like? Anyone who looking for a love story that is so very much more, that will break your heart and slowly piece it back together. *Again, check trigger warnings*

Quotes

Still, my heart was steadfast. The defiant little creature. It was a lesson I’d started to get used to: I had no control over my heart. It would do what it would do with no regard to the rest of my body. I guess that was the whole fascination with this organ. It could be your ruin, your salvation, your friend, and your enemy.

I knew myself well enough to know I didn’t survive books. They tore me to shreds. I’d never met an inanimate object as talented at breaking hearts as a book.

Pain is growth. Fear is risk. You can’t be happy if you’re not growing and taking risks.

Adolescent love is the greatest pain of all. It teaches you the power other people have to destroy you.

Grief is a side effect of love. It lasts as long as love lasts. You get used to the pain until you’re reminded it’s there. That is how it always works.

“I hope I never fall in love. Falling in love makes you so dumb.”...
“I hope you do. Falling in love makes you feel immortal. Don’t you want that?”

Triggers

Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Death of Parent, Death, Drugs, Alcohol, Bullying, Addiction, Abandonment, Depression, Pregnancy, Self Harm, Medical Content, Fire, Substance Abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Still Birth, Overdose
** This list is not extensive** 

Tropes

Best Friends Brother, Age Gap, Slow Burn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Infertility, Miscarriage, Medical content, and Pregnancy