Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

53 reviews

chaos_na_regale's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent

obsydian's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

sn8man's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Stalking and Death of parent

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

Finally got around to reviewing this book, but not for lack of interest. I really enjoyed this dark, immersive, atmospheric fairy tale. It reads on the older end of young adult and delves into some nasty stuff. It was surprisingly scary and gross (be ready for rot, decay, vomit, corpse flowers, bugs, festering wounds, etc.). It was horrific in the best ways, imo, but it won't be for everyone. Two of three sisters are queer, but it's not a main plot point. Overall, it's a love story about sisters, what constitutes a family, and the moral rot that makes people monsters. I tore through this book!

As usual with the stuff I read, check the cw's. Also consider if you're in the right place to engage some existential dread. If this sounds like fun to you, I highly recommend! I will absolutely be reading more Krystal Sutherland - her writing is gritty and gorgeous. I might bump this up to 5 stars soon because I read this 3 weeks ago and I still think about it. Enjoy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

fadeddpages's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

automatic_rae's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I never knew where the plot was going next. Confusing, intriguing, different to anything else I’ve read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gore, Blood, and Alcohol

danteeeh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Toxic friendship

alexasolis98's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was eerie and dark. The imagery of rotting and dead things was quite descriptive. The plot dragged a bit at times. Something still felt missing by the end of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Animal death

bloomingrose92's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

While horror isn't really my thing, this book was incredibly well written. I particularly liked the descriptions that Sutherland gave. They provided a strong sense of rotting darkness throughout the book with novel phrases I'd never heard before.

And the twist of them not be chased by something that hides in the dark, but being the thing that hides in the dark was excellent. That they killed the three little Hollow girls, stole their bodies, then left them, unburied, as they took over the Hollow sisters' lives. I especially liked the line that Grey called out to the Hollow sisters for help, and they listened, because Grey was a little girl too. And the masked killer haunting them is actually the Hollow's father, coerced by their unholy magic to suicide, and refusing to pass on so that he can finally bring down his children's killers? Chef's kiss. I loved the detail of him finding his children's discarded bodies in the Halfway place, and making graves for them to finally rest. I have a particular fondness for protagonists putting everything they have into fighting a big bad, just to find out that they were the bad they were fighting. And the characterization of our protagonist in this book as a mousy bookworm who just wants to escape the weirdness of her past adds to the twist.

A well-written book, with unlikeable characters that only adds to the ultimate payoff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Alcohol

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

Wow, this was ... quite the ride! This creeped me the f*ck out so I'd say it was a successful piece of horror work! I had read Krystal Sutherland's romances previously, so this was an intriguing change of page from that.

Admittedly, I didn't see the ending coming, and I kind of love that for me!? I feel like I could sympathize with Iris's feelings of confusion, uncertainty, and anxiety throughout the book because of my oblivion regarding the big reveal in the final pages of the story. I felt I could fully take in the mystery and the angst that Iris felt.

Most of the book takes place as Vivi and Iris are on the run from a man in a bone mask, who has been actively stalking them and their older sister Grey for some time now. Iris is 17, Vivi is 19, and Grey is 21; ten years ago, they returned home after going missing for 31 days (they vanished without a trace!). It has been the talk of the town, but things were immediately different upon their return. They lost their father Gabe Hollow, their mother Cate Hollow was noticeably distant, and Grey and Vivi ended up leaving home quite young, with Iris all alone with her co-dependent mom Cate (who does not like to be called "mom"). When Grey goes missing, Vivi and Iris reach out to Tyler Yang, Grey's ex-boyfriend, to help them follow the breadcrumbs and see where she has disappeared to.

I felt the subplot of the romantic connection between Iris and Tyler was unnecessary; I know a lot of people enjoy ex's sibling tropes or forbidden romances, but it's just not my thing, and I felt uncomfortable with a 22-year-old man being romantically involved with a 17-year-old minor.. Anyway!!! Tyler was goofy and I appreciate a bit of levity in a horror story, but I don't particularly vibe with the epilogue regarding his hinted ending. Look, all that for some dude? Couldn't be me!

The sisters did feel a bit like cardboard cutouts of characters I have seen before plenty of times: an elusive, enigmatic, stunning, has-it-all bohemian lifestyle model and oldest sister, Grey; the outspoken rockstar and hardass sapphic middle sister, Vivi; the reclusive, introverted, wallflower youngest sister, Iris. Once I got to the ending, I realized that these archetypes actually made a lot more sense. However, getting to know each of them in the 90% before then was a bit of a snooze.

The relationship between Cate and Iris felt suffocating and insufferable, but I am probably projecting because my mom was extremely strict when I was a teenager, so I simply hated that for Iris. It is a LOT to have a parent like that. Anyway, even though I felt the middle part of this book flopped and was a chore to get through, I mostly thought this was clever - folktales and fantasy mixed their way in with horror in this story about sisters, secrets, and uncovering who you really are, and I will read more from KS in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail