Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Return by Rachel Harrison

41 reviews

um_nic6's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Just too slow, but incredibly creepy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Gaslighting

randilion28's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I would rate this a 4 star simply because I haven't read anything like it before. It was a quick and easy read. It is really a story of friendships and how beautiful and tough to navigate they are. One of four friends goes missing for two years and shows up without remembering the last two years, so she says, and her friends notice she isn't the same friend they lost two years ago, even though she has a lot of the same qualities, they know something is wrong. The only complaint I have is when you find out what happened to her, they just don't give enough of an explanation and you're left thinking, well WTF. Maybe that was on purpose? It is set in October so definitely a fun read for this month, and again, it has plot that I've never read before so I thoroughly enjoyed it minus the details in the end. If you want something quick, easy to read about friendships and monsters - definitely recommend picking this up. 

Also, because I didn't recognize her name at first, this author wrote "Such Sharp Teeth" and I've read great things about it and have had it on my TBR for a while now. Enjoy! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

wheeliechick's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Eating disorder, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

elialoves's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.5

This story was a bit slow to start, but it made the character development strong. I was definitely creeped out reading this, and it didn't take me too long to somewhat figure out what was going on. It was enjoyable, but kinda graphic so be careful.

I've decided I dislike the narrator/MC. She was a wreck of a person who made terrible decisions in the past and toward the end where she acted like she had no self preservation... I'll leave it at that so I won't spoil anything. I plan on reading more Rachel Harrison soon :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Medical content, and Cannibalism

Minor: Cancer and Abandonment

aparker89'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bwunitulips's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

most of the reasons i don’t think this book is better is mostly because of personal pet peeves . lack of word variation , i think the pacing at the beginning could have been better , etc . despite that , when the plot got going , i couldn’t put the book down . i read it in one night , essentially . it’s a good debut book . you can tell it’s the author’s first , but you can also tell she has potential . it was good 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, and Blood

freemakd's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dat_ash_though's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

wheresminnie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Such a different book from what I usually go for, but loved it! Super fast paced and just the right side of supernatural.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the ending when it became apparent that Elise got away, but found myself reflecting afterward about the story being something of a metaphor for toxic friendships that have run their course.

I think I’ll be thinking of this book for a while!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail