Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage

15 reviews

aely's review

dark emotional 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

This book was extremely depressing. Jonah simply wanted to have a roof over his hand, and what happened to him was truly awful to read.

Parks-Ramage managed to write realistic characters who go through SO much trauma, with a bittersweet ending that left me feeling… complicated.

My only critique would be that the book felt so depressing and hopeless that at times it was very hard to return to the story.

Other than that, the book is a grim cautionary tale about abusive relationships and sexual assault. It was very emotional and well written. I hope that Jonah is able to live happily after the books ends. That is all.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Classism, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Death, Murder, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Blood, Trafficking, Dementia, and Abortion

veggitorian's review

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Sexual violence

ohkaereads's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Self harm

Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Confinement, and Mental illness

bells_shelves's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

The first half of this book was absolutely incredible. I read the first two hundred pages in one sitting. However, after the trial, a lot of the plot began to grow unbelievable and unconvincing. Some things that happened were outside of one’s character traits, or just didn’t make sense, and that pulled me out of the story. I still enjoyed it, and I think a lot of the themes and overall messages discussed in the Q&A session are especially important in reading this book, especially when it comes to understanding trauma and survivorship. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Torture, Trafficking, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Homophobia

typewriterworries's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Extremely dark book and often felt like it was dark just to be, well, dark. 

I was intrigued by the concept of a suspenseful thriller that centered around the lifestyle of a young man who's trying his best to live the luxurious, coquettish lifestyle he pictured himself having. In theory, it had so much promise. 

At the start, the book had my attention. I was interested in learning more about the relationship between Jonah and the famed playwright, Richard. There's something about Richard that doesn't seem quite right and it doesn't take long for both Jonah and the reader to realize this. We're soon taken through a tale of trauma, deception and tragedy. 

While the book is gripping and I found myself breezing through it; the amount of just overtly dark themes and dark scenes became too much. At some point I found myself outright skipping through some of the darker passages because it wasn't adding anything to the story. Every time the book provided some type of hopeful progression, it was undercut by something dark and sinister. 

I think the author has a knack for writing a character you want to learn more about and I hope that he does that with future work but has much less misery. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Violence, and Rape

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

bluehairedlibrarian's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm still not sure how to feel about this book. It wasn't what I was expecting, and the foundation of the entire story is queer trauma. At times I felt like it leaned on negative tropes used to condemn gay men in the not-so-distant past, but at the same time, queer authors should be able to write about anything. In this book, the author explores the types of horrors that can come from a relationship that not only has a large age gap between partners, but also a large gap in authority and power.

With that said, this book is dark and traumatic, but the writing quality kept me reading despite the horrors on the page. Jonah is a compelling narrator and I sympathized with him while also thinking he was a complete idiot at times. The situations he got himself into could be excused by his naivete and Midwestern religious upbringing, but at the same time, he was incredibly naïve. He's also a very unreliable narrator, but I liked the framework that is revealed later on in the book. I thought it a bit strange for it suddenly to revolve around his non-relationship with a side character, and the ending felt strange and little forced.

I can't say I enjoyed this book, but I don't regret finishing it either. It's difficult and does not fall under the Gothic Horror trope at all. It's a difficult read, but a mostly well-written one.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Torture

lvluplevi's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

Dark, terrifying, and unlike anything I’ve ever read before. A great new story based in real world gay situations, brought to a tense and heightened reality. In some ways it really hit close to home, in other ways the world seems foreign. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Death of parent, Confinement, Death, Child abuse, Alcohol, and Drug use

samuaint's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book was deeply compelling but very dark and triggering to be honest. A wonderfully written tale that I'm honestly not sure I would recommend reading because the subject matter it so difficult. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Physical abuse

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, and Alcoholism

dylandarezzo's review

Incredibly, unnecessarily graphic and disturbing.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

deezy's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking