Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead

46 reviews

katherine_dc's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I’m an Ashley Winstead superfan (ever since reading The Last Housewife! Maybe my favorite thriller ever?) so it pains me that I really didn’t love this one. I found the pacing and narrative too slow and too local — the main character seems almost willfully naïve, both in the flashbacks (which, fine, teenage kid raised in a bigoted evangelical church, I get it) and, more irritatingly, in the present. The setting is vivid and the characters are interesting! But I felt over and over like this could have been considerably shorter — edited for less repetition, for hemming and hawing that, even if it perhaps felt necessary to Winstead for character building(??), wasnt always the same. I think this book somehow gets a little stuck between trying to be beautiful in the language and world-building and leaning into Winstead’s huge skill as a craftsperson of plot, tension, and thrill. There was a really exciting crescendo for a bit toward the end (though the end itself…..huh?), so I bumped it up to 3 stars — but the majority of the book felt like a 2ish-star slog to me. I thought Sarah Welborn’s southern-accented audio narration was really well done, even if it somehow also underlined the things about this book that didn’t really work for me (repetition, fluffy/insubstantial inner dialogue, etc.). I will still pre-order and read Ashley Winstead’s other books (I’ve read all but one romance from her backlist — her romance writing is really good!)! But this one was not a fave for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mmhender2's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

This book wrestles with themes of morality and justice, religion and law, and gender roles. The plot kept me engaged. There were aspects of the writing I liked and others felt too heavy handed. I think the book would be better without the Twilight stuff, but the conversation with the author at the end of the book put that into a different perspective for me. If you want an easy crime thriller to read, you may enjoy this. 

Personal note: I'm over religious fundamentalists being the bad guys. I think it's too easy of a concept these days. Give me someone who is more nuanced. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

tjsayler's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

Listened to audiobook. I found it hard to stay engaged. Some parts were slow and uninteresting to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia

lauracatereads's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This book was WILD. (P.S. for sure check the trigger warnings on this one).

At no point did I have any idea where exactly it was going until about 70% through in which I knew exactly where it was going and it had the biggest “oh shit?” moment of a book I’ve read in a very long time. 

Where to start on this book? First of all, this is for the girlies who were raised in oppressive, fundamentalist churches in the South. Raise your hands my fellow Jezebel spirits. 🙋🏼‍♀️ This book would not have been remotely the same without the setting and what a wickedly beautiful one it is. Swamplands, humidity, supernatural storms, LSU references, Bible bumper hypocrisy, the Piggly Wiggly? You name it, Bottom Springs has it.

These characters were wicked and I loved it. Not morally grey, just straight up kinda morally evil. I had to sit there most of the novel and say “Cool motive, still murder” and yet Winstead writes it in such a compelling way and paints Ruth & Everett with just enough of a sentimental light that you want to sit there and say that it was all justified. (TBH, it kinda was

although Everett was totally a complete and utter psychopath

 

Also the finale??? should not have given this book any bad reviews, it was FANTASTIC. I love an unresolved ending. If you don’t have the imagination to make an ending for yourself than you simply just aren’t much of a reader. Anyways, nothing good starts in a getaway car 😉

Ruth Cornier, you would’ve LOVED Preacher’s daughter by Ethel Cain. Everett Duncan, you would’ve LOVED I Did Something Bad by Taylor Swift. 

The only thing stopping me from 5⭐️ is the combo of Ruth’s naivety and the constant miscommunication trope that could’ve saved them so much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, and Pregnancy

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

       You may not like this book if you are a fundamentalist Christian, as it deals with some of the hypocrisy of a fictional pastor, I'm sure modeled after some real ones. It also deals with an incorrectly labeled fictional Wiccan sect which was much more Satanist than true Wicca.
    That being said it was an excellent book, in my opinion, very dark, but a good romantic thriller. However, the end left me unsatisfied. I'd have liked an epilogue of what happened to the town after, and if the MCs made it through.
    I found the journey enjoyable, and it had some unpredictable twists. Overall, an excellent book.
 
 Narrator Rating:  4.25 stars
   Well the narrator did a good job, she didn't do enough tonal shifts for different characters' voices. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Drug abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

The graphic animal cruelty & animal death were not too drawn out and at the start of the book. The other animal death wasn't on the page, just some parts with talk or one of the characters having a dead animal (snake and deer).

tiiiger35's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

I really enjoyed this book, I’d have given it 5 stars if it wasn’t for the ending which was open ended. 

It’s definitely a southern gothic thriller with an underlying supernatural element. 

It’s set in a religiously zealot small town, the author does a great job of describing the hot, humid, swampy, surroundings of the Deep South. 

Ruth, the pastors daughter is naive, submissive and too easily influenced. Her blind ignorance towards her surroundings irritated me a lot. 

I was very drawn to Evers’ character, a tormented soul who’s been mistreated his entire life. His vulnerability around Ruth is endearing & balances out his lingering darkness. 

I see a lot of people slating the Twiligjt references but what they don’t get is that young girls are drawn to books like that and figures Edward Cullen because it’s a love interest outside of society and morality. This cries out to a girl like Ruth confined by religious beliefs & restrictions. It’s no wonder she looked at Ever, as her idea of a dark romance waiting to save her. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the book.

It was hard to put down at times and I raced through it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

sstewart89's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Abortion

karinreadsalot's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.5

Soooo…. This book started off really thick in Louisiana lore but then spiraled into a weird small town religious cover up story…the whole time there was a hint that something supernatural was going on but it never came to fruition. Sad considering the writing prose was so smooth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

caidyn's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.5

Given how long the wait there was on this book from my library, I expected a lot from this book. But I was let down in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Abortion