Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

8 reviews

throwback682's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Usually if I finish a book and don’t know how I feel about it, scrolling through other people’s reviews helps me process and solidify my feelings. Not this time. I’m still really on the fence. It definitely seems like a love it or hate it book but somehow I just don’t feel either. I didn’t find it horribly predictable nor breathtakingly shocking. Some twists I guessed, some I didn’t. It did have some of my least favorite horror tropes -

bad guy with a facial difference,

mentally ill murderer,

random sexual assault thrown in.

But it kept me very interested, that’s for sure. I don’t know. Very mixed feelings. Sometimes I thought it was going to be a five star, but then… it wasn’t. I liked the epilogue better than the final chapter. Should you read it? Solid maybe. Shrug. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

Casual usage of a slur for Romani people, as a synonym for “shortchanged”

killmoore_'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-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

Despite predicting the ending very early on, I thoroughly enjoyed Theme Music. It's a wild ride from start to finish. Check your trigger warnings, it gets gruesome.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

alexandraloveee's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

Wow this book was a wild ride that I thoroughly enjoyed and could NOT put down. Loved the plot, guessed *some* of the twists, but not all! The dialog was sometimes a bit....sitcom-y sometimes?? And it sort of threw me off a bit, but I eventually got used to it and let the story take me away. Was gory but not the most so that I have ever read. For this author's first novel it was very well done! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug use, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

gssll_lpz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Stalking and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

katyannreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, and Stalking

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

powerpuffgoat's review

dark emotional mysterious

2.5

The easiest way for me to sum up this book is "not good enough". That's not to say there were no good aspects, but there weren't enough.

The premise of the book is captivating, and it doesn't pull any punches from the very beginning... or so I hoped. After the gripping first chapter, it slows right down and turns into mush.

The main character, Dixie, is an unreliable narrator, but in the worst way. There is no subtlety to it, it's all very ham-fisted, and it just doesn't work. Additionally, she is impulsive and does many things with no rhyme or reason. Her sense of self-preservation is basically absent in favour of processing the strange plot. 

Other characters aren't much better. Dixie's partner, initially acting like any reasonable adult would in his situation, does a 180 and just enables her behaviour. The villain's motivation is such a stretch, I think I pulled a muscle just reading it. Also, I cannot stand "bad guy monologues". Truly, how does this trope still make an appearance?

Finally, the plot and pace of this book are all over the place. The twists either come completely out of nowhere, or you can see them from a mile away. Again, zero subtlety. Zero finnesse. The entire book is just clunky, and reading it was more hard work than I am willing to do for entertainment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Stalking

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence