Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig

9 reviews

immovabletype's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, and Xenophobia

Minor: Misogyny

magellen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Hooray for a sophomore success! This book is much more cohesive than House of Salt and Sorrows- that said, it still takes a *long long* time to set things up. 3/8ths of the way in felt like the inciting moments, the plot finally showing up to the party.

Once it's in motion, the plot carries along on its own. The nebulous setting flounders through the front half, making it hard to tell just when and where we are, which winds up making it feel like The Village for a stretch. Though it lacks much flavor for voice, the moments of tension/horror are well built and sustained on a razor wire, satisfying to squirm over - there is a lot of blood in this book and talk of the smell of blood so heads up.

Overall, it's a stellar follow up that leans into the fear and reality more than the frothy illusion of S&S. It runs long, or slow, depending how you consider the word count load but it does eventually find uses for most of those words. With yet again a large cast, there's a lot of threads to tie at the end and only a handful of them stay knotted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Pregnancy

ka_ke's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

Small Favours certainly has dark christianity based undertones. I’m not sure if this is intentional or if I’m simply projecting my own experiences on the story. Otherwise, Small Favours is a fun thriller. Watching the towns people slowly lose themselves to insanity is creative, dark and immersive. Another win for Erin A. Craig. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Violence, Body horror, Grief, and Misogyny

Minor: Colonisation, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

bwwilhelm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is not for the faint of heart, but it was damn good! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Grief

andromeda_1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

Small favors took me by surprise. I really enjoyed myself while reading it and I’m not sure if I will ever be able to find something like that again. I hope that the writer will someday decide to write a second book because some things are left unanswered but I like it as a stand-alone. The books has some dark and tense elements that I loved but I would have enjoyed it more if we had seen even more of this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, and Misogyny

marchhare89's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Violence, Animal death, and Blood

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy

elderflower's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.25

I was expecting a sweet, historical romance, but got a horror novel instead. Horror novels are not my thing and this one was definitely creepy. It wasn’t necessarily a bad horror novel, but the advertising did not communicate the fact that it was a horror novel. It was a bit predictable and cliché though. 
Songs:

• Chelsea by Phoebe Bridgers- this one doesn’t fit very well, but I got the same vibes from this song and this book
• august by Taylor Swift- for Rebecca and Sam 
• Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson- for Ellerie

Similar reads:

• The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson- if you want a younger, cleaner, and more christian version of this book then The Monster in the Hollows is the book for you! 
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. R**ling (god I hate to write her name)- I was reminded of Ginny’s storyline while reading this book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Suicide, Ableism, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Gun violence

more content warnings: ableist language, cheating

britni_library's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Religious bigotry