Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke

24 reviews

katerina_l's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

wishbea's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I struggled to enjoy this book at the beginning because there were some plot points that didn't make any sense, but the back half of the book was better and the very emotional ending wrapped things up well enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

Minor: Self harm

elizabethwebb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lemface's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage and Grief

julieyael's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

This book was a wonderful read. Not a real horror book to my opinion, more an eery and mysterious one. 
The setting is quite ominous, and we feel something is off but the plot twist is hard to guess. 

The characters have enough background to be interesting and the story is well written. 
Some typically Scottish words were sometimes hard for me (I am not a native english speaker), but it was interesting to learn things😉

I did not rate this book with 5 stars because in my opinion some parts of the plot remains blurry. Also at times, some characters are acting in a not so logical way and I found it annoying. 

But other than that I fell in love with this book and probably will read it again in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Rape, Torture, Grief, and Alcohol

kasfrost87's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really did enjoy this book so much that after 7 days I’d only got 122 pages left.  I’m the person that never finished books. Was abit disappointing towards the end it jumps from it and miss I think is a vital part out. But I really enjoyed reading. To the point I’d pick the book over TV. Never read a book like this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Gore, Torture, and Grief

gowlstick's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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? No

2.75

Overall I felt mostly disappointed with this book. I have not read anything else by C.J. Cooke, but I do still feel open to reading something else written by her. I was particularly drawn to the blurb and gorgeous cover art, and based off the brief description I thought it'd be something that would suit both my tastes and my Mums. 

The mystery of the lighthouse, witches and wildlings was decent at first but I found the last third of the book to be pretty dissatisfying.

I did enjoy that the 'wildlings' were only children who travelled by mistake and had no malicious motive was refreshing, though I do love an evil little kid. Or someone who is supposed to be another but just isn't quite right.

The POVs were managed well enough imo, but I felt that clarification that it was a Grimoire section would've been nice (despite the italics). I did find that particularly with chapters written in Luna's POV, the segments dedicated to her memory or flashbacks were unclear and I did find myself confused a few times in those instances.

I generally did not like any of the characters and found some of their building to be a bit weak, and throwaway. 

Somehow this entire book felt like a man trying to write 'strong women' or a 14yo girl writing fanfiction. As mentioned previously I have not read anything from Cooke before, and won't be against it. But I will be more careful to read a chapter or two before investing. And I'd be hesitant to recommend this to people who have similar tastes to mine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Torture, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

lauraleafromthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.0

I absolutely devoured this book. Spooky, creepy, and thrilling atmospheric writing. Characters are flawed but real; they feel authentic and brutally honest. I loved every moment of the plot. Also — that ending was a little shocking but I enjoyed it along with everything else. A beautifully written story. Multi POVs and timeline jumps did not get bogged down with facts, it felt smooth and cohesive in the most puzzle like way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

pollyhall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The atomsphere was done well, at times it had me wanting to visit the Scottish Highlands and other times I didn't want to have anything to do with it. I picked up the book and didn't put it down till I was finished.  I loved the character of Basil and his interactions with the girls and the fisherman. Emotionally this book will have you all over the place there are funny sweet parts and other parts that will have you scratching your head in disbelief that people can do things like this to each other.
At the being it was a little confusing with all the points of views. I had to go back and look at the heading of the sections do see who was speaking. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.0

A book about a lighthouse on a Scottish island and witches with a beautiful cover? I had to give it a try. But this was so much darker than I expected. 

The story is told from multiple points of view in 3 different timelines.
In 1662 several women on a small Scottish island are accused of being witches and executed. Before dying, one of these women curses the island and its inhabitants.
In 1998 Liv and her 3 daughters Clover (7), Luna (9) and Sapphire (15) come to the island, where Liv is hired to paint a mural inside the Longing, the 100 years old lighthouse built at the spot where the witches were imprisoned during their trial. Soon after their arrival, strange things begin to happen and Liv's children start disappearing. 
In 2021 Luna is still searching for her 2 lost sisters, when she gets the message that Clover has been found...

I really enjoyed the atmosphere on the island, it's history and the mystery. But there were some really dark themes here, and a lot of scenes were very hard to read, even for me. So definitely check trigger warnings beforehand. 
There were aspects of the story I did not expect at first but was pleasantly surprised by them. I think they are handled really well and lead to a satisfying conclusion. I liked how the story is plottet, and how you slowly realize what is happening. But it's heartbreaking. I think I cried straight through the last 20-30% of the book just thinking about it. 
This story shows perfectly how the irrational fear of something you don't understand can cause a lot of pain for a lot of people, even generations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Terminal illness, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Drug use, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Murder