Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage

48 reviews

cherryblossomreads's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

Jeg har ikke så mange ord om den her endnu, men jeg var fanget og fastholdt, rørt og ødelagt, så noget har den da gjort.

Den beskrives dog som en historie, hvor et 'idyllic' forhold mellem Jonah og Richard ændrer sig til noget mørkt, men jeg følte ærligt aldrig at det var godt mellem dem, og et ødelagde lidt starten af historien for mig.

Men den er voldsom. Virkelig voldsom. Læs CW og TW (Content og Trigger Warnings) inden, du går i gang, hvis du vil være forberedt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Suicide and Classism

whatskatiereading's review

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

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.

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Content Warnings

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

tessytess's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

melanders_07's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Minor: Violence and Stalking

conversion therapy

bookswithmybulldog's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I flew through this book and couldn’t put it down. It was deeply disturbing but also couldn’t stop/look away. I THOUGHT it was going to lose me in the mid-20 chapter with the religious themes, but so glad I kept going because it shocked me again. I wish it was longer I wanted more from the main character. Very unique and different. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

soljovis's review

challenging dark fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

ibeforem's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

"The things we worship eat us alive."

Jonah starts out this story already full of trauma. His evangelical parents discovered he was gay and sent him to conversion therapy, which of course failed spectacularly. Now he is barely surviving in New York, waiting tables with his dreams of being a successful playwright one day. His first step in achieving that dream is to orchestrate a meeting between himself and successful playwright Richard Shriver. But when that meeting eventually leads to a summer on Richard's Hamptons compound as his boy-toy, Jonah gets a whole lot more than he bargained for.

This book went all sorts of places I wasn't expecting, and frankly I'm still thinking about it a month after I read it. I think it has a lot to say about the #metoo movement and the way victims can become perpetrators and perpetrators can become victims. Honestly, I would have given this 4 stars instead of 3 if it hadn't taken what felt like an off-course turn about 3/4 of the way through. The story finds its way back before the end, but that one turn felt extraneous.

Content warning: There is a lot of explicit sexual assault and violence in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

juliaureads's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, and Suicide

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

zookie_b's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.25

Devastating in the most perfect way. Lost .75 star because it’s hard to say I enjoyed this whole book. There were many moments where I wanted to give up due to the subject matter and trauma our characters go through but I’m glad I continued as the real artistry and insight came in the last third of the book. A hard read, sure to haunt me for a while, but one I’m glad I finished.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol