Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Serpentine Valentine by Giana Darling

2 reviews

thebookishb's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

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queerafictionado's review against another edition

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

4.5

Serpentine Valentine was poetry in prose. Words strung together that paint pictures in your mind and dance around in your soul. Captivating. Alluring. It will take you on a journey through the whole range of human emotions. It will rip your heart out, smash it to pieces, and string it back together. Broken. Bruised. Changed. Just like the characters on the pages. I have so many highlights in my ebook - sometimes entire paragraphs! I devoured this book, just like the twin snakes in the ouroboros devouring themselves. 

This story wrenched itself in my heart and gave me words for feelings I hadn’t yet been able to name for myself. And Lex and Luna’s bond - the way the light and darkness in them commingled and pulled pieces of themselves out that might have otherwise remained hidden in the shadows of darkness or been blinded by the light of other’s expectations. Their story was tragic and beautiful and raw. And I found bits of myself in each of them. But especially Lex as she struggled to see anything good as real, instead waiting for the ticking time bomb to explode in her face. As she grappled with the darkness inside her and what it meant about who she was and her worthiness for love. As she clawed her way out of that darkness and slowly let the light that was Luna seep into her weary soul.

This was a narrative about feminism, and female empowerment. But also female rage. And the lengths women identified people must go to in order to be heard and seen and taken seriously. About why silence is so often the answer in a world that vilifies victims and parades them around as pariahs, while the real monsters wander free- their crimes covered, their reputations protected. It was powerful and heart wrenching and it will burn the fires of rage within your soul. Because the truth is…this might be a fictional story, but it is rife with truth and there are far too many real stories like this in our world. 

I wanted to be able to give this book 5 stars. But there were just some parts that were problematic for me. The Harry Potter references for one. I would be engrossed in some part of the story and then an HP reference would jar me and pull me out of my reverie. They just weren’t needed, and I wish people (especially writers of queer books) would stop referencing the works of a blatant transphobe. The other big one was the whole premise of Lex using Luna as a pawn in her revenge while simultaneously claiming to be protecting women. It was contradictory to everything she stood for. I think the story could have been just as powerful if that part of the story had been written differently. There were some other cringy things but they were minor and didn’t impact my feelings on the book as a whole in the same way these two things did.

TRIGGER WARNINGS! Please read the trigger warnings. This book is a Medusa retelling and as such involves rape and sexual assault. There are some on page (not a lot of graphic details) and some off page accounts, but it is also an overarching theme of the whole book. Read with caution and check the other trigger warnings as well.

🏳️‍🌈Rep: Lesbian FMC, Bi FMC, queer and POC SCs

📝Tropes/Themes: Dark Academia, Medusa Retelling, Revenge, Found Family, Coming Out, Sapphic Romance, Feminism, Female Empowerment
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