Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

7 reviews

leannanecdote's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Blood and Alcohol

dragon_named_fox's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder

spacestarberry's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A wonderfully cozy book, the prose is light and funny, and the characters are a very loveable cast. A tale of finding your own belonging and family in the face of loneliness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism and Xenophobia

-Most of the content warnings listed about abuse have to do with Jamie's past, where there is a non-graphic but still potentially triggering dicussion during a car ride to visit his mother about -The main character's adoptive mother, as well as the adoptive mother of the 3 children in the cast, are described as being very absent in their lives. -Very early on, the worldbuilding describes that witches are typically orphans. -a late reveal in the book reveals a character is , and that

ktnl22's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Loved this book, I borrowed it from my local library and wish I could keep it 😂😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

magbigler's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

A wonderfully cozy fantasy novel that explores human connections and the joy and pain that they encompass

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Mental illness and Sexual content

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Mention of orphanages, s slur, heart attack.

booksthatburn's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

THE VERY SECRET SOCIETY OF IRREGULAR WITCHES is a funny and heartwarming story of found family, starring a lonely witch and a house full of people working to protect three very young witches.

The setting is almost real-world England, but where magic and witches are real while the rest of history seems to have been unaffected. Mika was born in India but was taken to England by Primrose after her mother died (all witches are orphaned soon after birth due to a spell that went wrong sometime in the past). There are various themes of bigotry, marginalization, and even colonialism which are invoked by the characters, but only the magical counterpart is specifically explored. Since a lot of heavy lifting for the worldbuilding is implied by the contemporary setting and setting most of the book at Nowhere House, this has the room to focus mainly on characterization. 

Ian is a retired actor who resides at Nowhere House with Ken, his husband and the house's gardener. Lucie is the housekeeper, and Jamie is the grumpy and protective librarian who originally came to the house as a teenager. The children (Altamira, Terracotta, and Rosetta) are very young witches who were adopted by the house's absent owner, Lillian, a witch and archeologist. Ian finds Mika online and invites her to stay at the house for several months and teach the children to control their magic. Mika, who has led a very lonely life due to her former guardian's ideas about witches and the dangers of spending time with one another, agrees to stay but keeps feeling a bit on the outside.

The story is generally heartwarming, focusing on Mika's interactions with the inhabitants of the house. Jamie is grumpy in a way that's initially annoying to Mika but which starts being a bit sexy as she gets to know him better. Mika was invited to the house because there's going to be a visit from Lillian's lawyer and they need the children's magic to be under control (or at least hidden) during the event. They haven't been able to get in touch with Lillian, and none of the other adults are magical, so they have to hope that Mika can help them.

This was fluffier than I usually like, but I ended up enjoying it (especially once Jamie and Mika start really talking). The late-book twist was handled very well and led to some of my favorite scenes in the whole thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism