Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

16 reviews

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this! Honestly it wasn’t as creepy as I thought it was going to be. It has an interesting premise that I wanted to find out what happened. I liked seeing how everything came together in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, and Murder

sarahholliday's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.5

Holy. Cow. 

I absolutely adored this reading experience. The Winter People is a beautiful, perfect balance of suspense and horror, exploring grief and oppression and the consequences of holding on too tight to the things we love.

If you're looking for a lightly suspenseful "what's going on here" kind of story...this is not that. This is full-on creepy and terrifying. At its heart, though, is this question of what unnatural evil can arise when we try too hard to subvert death and the grieving process. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal death

tew_11's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Overall I liked the story and I think the horror was well done. There were bits that left me feeling edgy and watching the shadows as I went to bed that night. I enjoyed Sara and Martin's chapters more than the interludes into the present. I like Ruthie and Fawn and thought their relationship plus "investigation" together was good but Katherine and Candace's story lines felt unnecessary.
I think the book would have been the same (or even better off) without Katherine's storyline. I understand Candace and ...

Spoiler

her connection to Ruthie (and Gertie) but even this bit of plot didn't feel necessary. I like the intrigue of Ruthie being connected to Sara and Gertie and the legends surrounding that family but it didn't really play a part into the plot overall.

Oh, and don't even get me started on Auntie.

Spoiler

Auntie was done so dirty. Her betrayal of Sara and murder of Gertie seemed so out of the blue to me. Her transformation into a villain made her into a token character when I felt like she could have been more. Like come on, Native American women shares the secrets of bringing the dead back to life and then subsequently becomes the villian and kills a child?? Dude...

 
I did like the story over all and the scares and developed relationships (Martin and Sara were tragic and I wish there was more to their story) so I give it a solid 3.25. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Grief

space_funk's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage

julienicole1106's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

michaelat21's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The ending of this book sucked. I loved the book and was on the edge of my seat and then it just kinda ended in the most meh way and fell flat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child death

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, and Confinement

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

jjjreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Grief, Gore, Racism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Confinement, Stalking, Violence, Car accident, Classism, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

ashlynhu's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I loved reading this story. Fans of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary will like this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Child death

Minor: Miscarriage and Animal death

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

2.5

A harrowing tale with many twists and turns, which keeps you interested and guessing. I was glued to the story up until the last third. I wasn't thrilled with the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Car accident, Animal death, and Cancer

carissa230's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 Sara Harrison has suffered the loss of her son and now the loss of her daughter. Her mind is shattering and she will do anything to get her daughter back.

Ruthie and her sister Alice live in Sara's how in present day. Their mother has recently gone missing and they are searching the house to find her. When they stumble upon Sara's diary and learn that Sara may have been able to bring people back from the dead they're left with more questions than answers.

Told in rotating perspectives you get to hear about both story lines as they unfold. The past and present meet to bring about a spooky tale. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief