Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

107 reviews

rebekka's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexism, Gaslighting, Drug use, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Misogyny, Vomit, Mental illness, Grief, Death, and Cursing

trishnasaha's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Grief

matildaesandell's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This book is so fucked up, which is the whole point. Definitely read with caution and a lot of trigger warnings. This book had me feeling actually sick and making facial expressions of pure disgust in public. Please proceed with caution, this is a story of grooming, manipulation and trauma. This book honestly deserves 5 stars but I never want to read it again or recommend it to anyone because it is deeply traumatic, maybe an important one to read if you haven’t experienced these things, to help you better understand the lifelong damage and how hard it is for a victim to even grapple with the truth

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Stalking and Suicide

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

lorepanda's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Drug use, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism

Minor: Drug abuse and Suicidal thoughts

crinkledmochi's review

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

i don’t even know how to rate this… this book was so disturbing

i feel like this book is going to haunt me for the rest of my life 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Sexual assault

taylooney's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I only take off a 1/2 point because it was so dark that it put me in an aggressive reading slump. Fantastic writing though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

unabashedlynat's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit

theinkedpath's review against another edition

reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Rape, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Alcohol

jodiej_'s review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I don’t really write reviews so here goes. This book was so hard to get through but was absolutely necessary to read, I found myself having to put it down a few times because of how dark and intense it got. 

I have to admit that I did find myself getting angry and frustrated at Vanessa and asking her why can’t you see what it was?? Why can’t you see what he did to you? Why can’t you see that it wasn’t love and he was an evil disgusting predator?? Then I would carry on reading again and understand that the brainwashing was so so deep that she genuinely believed it was love. 

There was moments in the book where she seemed to realise that she was being manipulated but then convinced herself that he wasn’t manipulating her, he was just trying to make her understand. 

This book tells a very realistic story of what it’s like to be groomed and raped. It’s not as simple as saying they was and coming forward it changes a victims whole life, thought process and feelings. They start believing that this is what love is supposed to feel like. 

A dark heartbreaking but an absolute reality for victims. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

kyumgi's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Suicide, Mass/school shootings, and Drug abuse