Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

12 reviews

summermorning's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol

rmnedder's review against another edition

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

4.0

This was a fine introduction to Sarah Waters! The Paying Guests is tense and incredibly atmospheric. The historical attention to detail is astounding - even in the mundanity of daily life, this book paints such a vivid picture. I also love the way that Waters writes women; it's clear she writes sapphic romance from a place of tenderness and care, and it's refreshing (even if some of the particulars of this story are painful). The nuances and peculiarities of Frances and Lilian's relationship were so varied and multi-dimensional; it swung from fraught to fanciful and everywhere in between, and I really enjoyed seeing its evolution.

My only issue was really with the pacing. With the sheer amount of detail this book has, it moves incredibly slowly at times. It's not necessarily all bad! It built some fantastic suspense, but it also made the ending drag out a bit longer than may have been warranted. All in all, this was a great read, especially if you like historical sapphics <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, War, and Classism

laurenw's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Outing, and War

Minor: Child death

kappafrog's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

3.25

Pros: Gorgeous writing. I highlighted so many passages. This was my first time reading Sarah Waters, and she really has a gift for describing social and psychological nuances. I particularly liked the first third of the book, getting to know Frances and the house and its little world, wondering at Leonard's behaviour and anticipating the relationship between

Frances and Lillian

. I liked that the book stayed with a single perspective. Lillian was a very sympathetic character, and I enjoyed the time with her family. Frances was at times less sympathetic, since there was a real hardness to her, but at other times she was very relatable. There were some wonderful scenes, like

the roller rink, the heart and stake, the dance party, the parasols in the park.

Cons: There are some truly nauseating scenes. I had to take breaks reading and start to skim because it was making me feel so queasy. After the big incident that happens about 1/3 of the way through the novel, I felt compelled to keep reading, but at the same time, found myself enjoying it less and less.

The stuff with the agony and angst over what to do about Spencer Ward went on and on and on and was just so uninteresting. There were a few bright spots, like the pathos of Spencer being revealed to still read picture books, but overall I found the trial third of the book a trial to read. And then, we got so little resolution at the ending - after all that, we still got no indication of what Lillian and Frances were going to do with their future. A letdown of an ending, after all that!

Overall, I enjoyed the first of the three parts the most. The book was rich with period details and painted an engrossing image of Frances' inner life. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in sapphic historical novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Medical content, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

raix's review

emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Most of the tension falls in the last couple of chapters. I honestly had no idea how it would turn out! I was surprised even til the last scene! 
I really liked that Frances was already established as being gay/liking women, rather than this being a new experience for both of them. The detail of her previous relationship (and the fact she still hangs out with her ex lol) felt very realistic. I'm still not really sure how I feel about Lillian. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Blood, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

aduqu's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Wow wow wow. This book enraptured me. I cannot recommend it enough!

The only reason it didn't reach 5 stars is because Part 3 does slow down the pace significantly, despite the fact that is the tensest part of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Abortion, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Lesbophobia and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and War

throwback682's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I read this book based on how much I remembered loving the  same author’s Tipping the Velvet fifteen years ago. I only read a short blurb and didn’t know what the meat of the plot was actually about. I was very surprised.

If you want to know more of the plot, but not major twists or ending:

An older woman and her spinster daughter, living alone after the sons were killed in WWI and the husband died of a heart attack, are financially ruined and have to take in a young married couple as lodgers. The daughter is a lesbian and starts having an affair with the  woman lodger. Then the man lodger dies unexpectedly and that’s where the majority of the tension in the book comes from. So it’s a sapphic love story? But also mostly a murder… not mystery? A crime drama, perhaps.

If you want to know whether it has a happy ending:

Yes? It leaves you hanging a bit but it’s not the tragic ending I feared.

Further ending spoilers:

The male lodge is the only person in the book who dies. No LGBTQ+ deaths.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

There’s talk of a stillbirth. There are pretty graphic descriptions of a medication abortion at home. There is a murder with some grisly description of a head wound. Tons of blood related to both the abortion and the murder. There are several sex scenes between two cis women. It’s indicated that marital rape occurs.

bootsmom3's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

endlessbummer__'s review against another edition

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

greatexpectations77's review

emotional tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

This book is a long haul, but it keeps good intensity up throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Violence, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent