Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

31 reviews

kastanienlady's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Blood, Vomit, Grief, and Death of parent

valerian_honeybee's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

c_alexander's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

(june 2024 edit: i changed my rating to 5 stars cuz this book hasn’t left my brain once)

loved this - loved the complex characters and relationships, the imagery, tone, and the pacing!

was disappointed side characters weren't further developed - especially in terms of the bipoc characters; racism is a theme explored in the book but in a really brief capacity considering its relevance

took a little while to 'pick up' but had me hooked in the second half

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Car accident, and Death of parent

nikoops's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

Really great read for fans of a good old ghost story. Definitely leaves you wanting to know more about the fates of these characters, and there were definitely parts that had me wishing the author would have delved a bit deeper. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying

While this story does not contain incest between blood related siblings, the main character Andrew and Eddie are referred to as siblings by adoption at times, so the intense relationship they had may be read by some as having incest-ish vibes

jojothefool's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

I had a lot of fun with this audiobook. The supernatural stuff was a bit confusing via audio for me, I think I may have followed some scenes a lot better if I were reading instead of listening, but I got enough of it to get the haunting feelings of the scary scenes. I will say that this book has representation of a queer community I am so not familiar with which was interesting lol there’s a lot of drag racing and not the kind that I’m used to. Car stuff is just not for me, I don’t understand it and I don’t want to, so those parts were kinda hard to get through. I liked the overall mystery and ookiness of the novel. There’s a small yet remarkable romance that I found myself shipping far before I thought the book would do anything with it, so when it happened I was very pleased. Overall a fun time, especially for the toxic codependency queer ship enjoyers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Cannibalism, Car accident, and Death of parent

madscientistcat's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

Visceral, haunting, a queer gothic masterpiece.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, and Slavery

holyschmitz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Woah. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dodgeremerson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Medical content, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Car accident, and Death of parent

minella's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

introverted_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

babe wake up and smell the petrol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Religious bigotry and Fire/Fire injury