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jpierce842's review
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I listened to this book to get back into audiobooks during college. It seemed to fit the kind of journey I was looking for. Mysterious, dark, salt-of-the-earth characters. A sudden plot twist halfway through. The relationship between Henry and Madi was hard to listen to sometimes because of the dynamic they fell into although that was clearly by design. Sometimes I wished that the ending was a little slower paced. That there was more to the story and more to some of the characters before they were written out. It's definitely a quick read though if that's something you're looking for. All in all not a bad start to my rediscovery of books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Death of parent
hauntedantiqueshop's review
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
2.0
Can’t even lie, they really had me in the first half of this book. There’s some really good horror imagery in this, I really loved the marine life aspects. I totally get why it’d be classified as a southern gothic folk horror and it does work for a while but it gets overshadowed (for me at least) by alternating unreliable prospectives, the weird focus on motherhood instead of parenthood when there are multiple parents in the story, and then that anticlimactic ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Miscarriage and Suicide
Minor: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
traa's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Child death
bookcaptivated's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Kidnapping
spacemonkey25's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Animal cruelty
bibliograflieg's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Miscarriage
memydogandbooks's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
Your next weird gothic folk horror read!
SYNOPSIS:
"After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market.
It’s there that she connects with old high school flame Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying nightmare waiting at the center of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear."
MY THOUGHTS:
- My mind was ALL OVER the place when I finished this book 🤯 I was in awe and also like thinking WTF!
- Beautifully written and captivating story about the physical and metaphorical loss of a child (so BIG content warning)
- Talking content warnings, there's also some body gore stuff, which ads to the plot, but is not for everyone
- Simultaneously unsettling and gripping! It starts out with a slow burn, then a third in you are like WHAAAAAATTT!
- Inspired by old fairytales/folklore gives this books very gothic horror vibes
- This is my first book by this author and definitely not my last. And in the meantime this book will sit with me for a long while.
SYNOPSIS:
"After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market.
It’s there that she connects with old high school flame Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying nightmare waiting at the center of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear."
MY THOUGHTS:
- My mind was ALL OVER the place when I finished this book 🤯 I was in awe and also like thinking WTF!
- Beautifully written and captivating story about the physical and metaphorical loss of a child (so BIG content warning)
- Talking content warnings, there's also some body gore stuff, which ads to the plot, but is not for everyone
- Simultaneously unsettling and gripping! It starts out with a slow burn, then a third in you are like WHAAAAAATTT!
- Inspired by old fairytales/folklore gives this books very gothic horror vibes
- This is my first book by this author and definitely not my last. And in the meantime this book will sit with me for a long while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, and Gore
childdeirdre's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Suicide
Moderate: Child death and Miscarriage
pezfilledcookies's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
4.0
I honestly can’t tell how much I liked this book. It’s in a weird in between where I can’t stop thinking about it, but I’m not sure if it’s for positive or negative reasons. But I’m still thinking about it…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
kkalicky94's review
dark
mysterious
fast-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
5.0
"Take my hand..."
When Madi moves back to her home town and reluctantly gives up custody of her daughter to give her a better life, she reconnects with Henry, who she never thought she'd see again. The two are drawn to each other for a higher purpose—figuring out what happened to Henry's son five years ago. They're in this together, for better or for worse, and the answer might just be something only a mother could love...
Okay, so this book was so surprising and unexpected—in a good way! I like to go into books blind, but at a certain point I had to go read the synopsis because I was confused about where the book was heading. I read it, confirmed it with what I was reading, then promptly threw it all out the window because, what the hell just happened?! This book was so much more than I expected, and I loved it all! This was just the right amount of creepy, mystery, and body horror for me to fly through it in giant sections each time I sat down to read it. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, characters, dialogue, and content. I can't wait to read more from Clay! 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀
When Madi moves back to her home town and reluctantly gives up custody of her daughter to give her a better life, she reconnects with Henry, who she never thought she'd see again. The two are drawn to each other for a higher purpose—figuring out what happened to Henry's son five years ago. They're in this together, for better or for worse, and the answer might just be something only a mother could love...
Okay, so this book was so surprising and unexpected—in a good way! I like to go into books blind, but at a certain point I had to go read the synopsis because I was confused about where the book was heading. I read it, confirmed it with what I was reading, then promptly threw it all out the window because, what the hell just happened?! This book was so much more than I expected, and I loved it all! This was just the right amount of creepy, mystery, and body horror for me to fly through it in giant sections each time I sat down to read it. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, characters, dialogue, and content. I can't wait to read more from Clay! 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent