Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Summer Sons

A southern gothic queer horror story full of folklore & hauntings sounded like the perfect book to transition from summer to autumn & it definitely was.

Honestly I had a hard time getting into the story for about half the book, it took me a while to understand the basics of the story, especially the way the hauntings worked. I also didn’t like how much the characters evolved around car races, which is just bc I personally cannot connect with that.
But around half the book the story took me really in & I loved the last 20% of it.
If the whole book had more focus on the folklore and murder mystery, like the last chapters did, this would have been a a 4-5 stars read for me, but as I said I had a hard time connecting with the first half of the book.
Even though I figured out the mystery pretty early on, I still liked the way it was written and it remained exciting to me.
I also ended up liking the romance way more than I did.
So overall a pretty good reading experience but far away from being a favorite.

Content Warnings

kakenn21's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

The first half the book was slow and Andrew's lack of emotional availability is tedious. But once he opens up to Riley and Sam a bit and the mystery gets going I enjoyed it. Writing was wordy and the lack of a large cast of characters made the reveal anti-climatic.

Content Warnings

friends2lovers's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

My favorite aspect of the story is definitely Andrew’s internal conflict over Eddie’s death and his burgeoning relationship with Sam—confronting his true feelings for Eddie while simultaneously acting on his desires for Sam, and eventually letting go of the relationship he could have had with Eddie so he can have a future with Sam. Thematically, the story is ultimately about grief and I think the intertwining of character and theme is done well. However, Andrew’s internal struggles and reflections are too often sidelined to move the lackluster horror/suspense plot forward.

Furthermore, I did not care for the tedious writing style at all and it significantly detracted from my enjoyment. The prose is somehow both wordy and vague. Figurative language is used in a way that makes it difficult to visualize what is happening in some scenes, especially the supernatural ones. I frequently had to pause or reread passages, which slowed down my reading pace. Since the descriptions are more confusing than evocative, I did not find this to be a creepy, immersive read, which is what I expected and wanted. 71% into the book, I noted in my reading journal: “I have to admit the reason I’m feeling compelled to pick it up and keep reading is not because of the story but because I want to finish it and move on to a different book.”

All that being said, the ending (

Come on. I love you, but this is no life.

) moved me to tears. And as frustrating as the writing is, there are a handful of passages I thought were worth bookmarking. So, I have mixed feelings about this book and my star rating is subject to change. For now, I’m going with 2.5-stars because overall I thought it was somewhere between okay (2-stars) and good (3-stars). If later I’m feeling more generous, I’ll probably round up to 3-stars.

Content Warnings

rowan27's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

Content Warnings

babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition

Go to review page

This book was too slow paced for me. I normally DNF books quite quickly so for me to DNF at 25% shows how much I love the writing style of the author. This is a very niche complaint on my part, so your mileage may vary, but when I heard about a horror book with fast cars I pictured muscle cars not tuner cars (TIL there is a term for buying a crappy car and putting way too much money into after market parts). I think Mandelo is an excellent writer and they did an excellent job of portraying a realistic and immerse modern masculine environment. It just wasn't the book for me and what I was looking for.

Content Warnings

valerian_honeybee's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.75

Content Warnings

nishana's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

Content Warnings

More...