Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

8 reviews

knitwitalex's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Bullying, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Stalking, and Pregnancy

tamara_joy's review against another edition

I was expecting the magical realism of her other books that I have read and loved. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Alcohol, and Classism

daniellekat's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

The perfect vacation/beach read. This was fast paced and easy to follow. I love SMG’s writing and the way she dances through genres. Not my favourite of her books but a quick, captivating read nonetheless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Domestic abuse, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

Moderate: sexual coercion

morgangd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious relaxing 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? Yes

4.0

This is a movie, she thought. It’s not the movie I started watching but it’s the movie that it’s become.

I need this as a black-and-white noir film, with its slow-burning plot, shift from beach romance to murder thriller, its narrator shifting her own perspectives ... Silvia Moreno-Garcia's writing is always sumptuous and that matches this aesthetic so well for this dalliance with noir.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexism, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Police brutality

jayisreading's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

Untamed Shore takes place in a sleepy coastal town in 1970s Baja California, where the protagonist, Viridiana, spends much of her time bored and longing to get out. Little does she know, her life would take a drastic turn when three Americans arrive one summer and hire her as a personal assistant. True to Moreno-Garcia’s style, there’s a lot of setting up the atmosphere that happens at the start, with much of the action happening later in the book.

I’m not sure if this novel will fully satisfy mystery or thriller lovers, but Moreno-Garcia always has a way of writing that draws you in and keeps you wanting more, I feel. When it came to the twists, I found most of them to be a little predictable, though it didn’t take away from the overall mood of the story. If anything, Untamed Shore felt like an opportunity to watch Viridiana grow as a young woman, especially as she learns from her entanglements with the three visitors in more ways than one.

I felt that the novel ended rather mysteriously, which I don’t think is a bad thing— If anything, it feels like an appropriate way to end a book that was clearly inspired by film noirs. It certainly sets things up for Moreno-Garcia to write more about Viridiana, should she want to.

I admit I wasn’t entirely invested in the book, in part because I wasn’t a huge fan of most of the characters, but I always enjoy how Moreno-Garcia adds her unique twists to different genres and time periods.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense fast-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

Fast-paced crime novel from the shape-shifting author Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I’ve read one of her books about ancient Mexican gods (Gods of Jade and Shadow) and one that’s a creepy gothic novel of phantasmagoric evil (Mexican Gothic), and now this. She’s an amazing author and I want to read everything she’s written. 

This one takes place against the endless desert, sky, and sea of Baja California where multilingual Viridiana spends her time giving tours to the occasional tourist and helping out at her mother’s store. She’s hired on as the secretary for a wealthy American, his young wife, and her brother, and nothing is really as it appears. Her employer is fairly straightforward but the two younger members of the rented house are harder to read. It’s clear there’s a lot of tension in the house and then everything falls apart. 

A tense and clever story of a resourceful young woman who will do whatever it takes to escape her small town. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

aloevera's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Alcohol