Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead

5 reviews

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).

rustlngpages's review against another edition

a myriad of reasons but i have a specific trigger for fundamentalists that makes me physically agitated & anxious, and the twilight undercurrent was ridiculous. i was just too stressed to keep reading. it was written just fine but if you have issues with fundamentalism and extreme misogyny… maybe give it a pass. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction and Sexual violence

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

I was so excited to pick up this book because I have been become such a big fan of Ashley Winstead's.
"Midnight Is the Darkest Hour" follows Ruth Collier, a young woman who has spent her entire life trying to overcome her struggles as the preacher's daughter. In Ruth's small, southern town of Bottom Springs, there is only one thing the citizens fear more than God, and that is the Low Man. When a skull is found in the swamp, the town believes the Low Man is back, and their prime suspect is Ruth's best friend, Everett. Everett has always been an outsider, and never been accepted by the town because of his father, but the townspeople are all the more suspicious of him because of secrets from his past that he is trying to keep hidden.
I was really engaged with this story from the beginning. I am normally not a fan of stories set in the deep south, but this one really hooked me. I was fascinated by the hypocrisy of the townspeople because they seem to preach being good, God-fearing people, but then they are so quick to turn on someone who is different than themselves. Ruth's father is a tyrant and has used his position as a church leader to break Ruth into submission for her entire life. Ruth has spent her adult years trying to discern who she is outside of church, and if she is a good person. This book exemplifies religious trauma.
I really enjoyed and appreciated Ruth's and Everett's friendship. They were both such misfits, and I think they really complement each other well. Through all of their hardships, they have remained close, and I really loved seeing their story arch.
One of my few gripes with this story is the reference to "Twilight". When Ruth is young, she steals and hides a copy of "Twilight" from the library. She finds such comfort in the story and the characters, and she dreams of having a romance like the one depicted between Bella and Edward. I think this was a nice touch, and really helps to highlight this idea that teenaged girls are often ridiculed for their "immature" interests. People are often so quick to dismiss things, like an interest in "Twilight" as dumb, because a teenaged girl loves it. My critique is the other used this as a plot point continually, and at one point a character tells Ruth that life can be like "Twilight", and I laughed out loud. Perhaps that was part of the point the author was trying to make, but it completely took me out of the story.
The greater mystery of what was going on, and who the Low Man really was, was captivating, and I did not see it coming. I felt like the mystery had layers, and I really enjoyed seeing all of the reveals come through.
This is probably my least favorite of Ashley Winstead's thrillers, but I still very much enjoyed it, and I would recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

cc_shelflove's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

Overall, this was just okay... but that last chapter was WHOOOAAA! If you liked All the Sinners Bleed, you will probably like this book, too. Personally, I really hate books with religion as a central theme. I'm not sure why I keep trying to read them. 😅

Ruth and Ever became friends on a dark night in the swamp. The reader discovers early on that Ruth killed someone (albeit in self defense) and Ever helped her hide the body. Six years later, she's dating a cop. Okay, girl! Ruth and Ever's system of checks and balances is a little screwed up. Do two wrongs make a right?

I was not very in love with this book. At times, I felt I was reading it to read it. I really enjoyed the relationship between these two individuals, however. Those who appreciate town politics and religious opinions will like it more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.0

<b> Midnight is the Darkest Hour </b> is a twisted, unhinged beast

If you enjoy occultism, heavy religious themes and being VERY mad in thrillers, then this is the book for you!! 

Woven with dark themes of greed, power and oppression, this book tickled me in just the right way 😈👿

THANK YOU NetGally and Aria & Aries for providing an ARC of this book  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Abortion, and Pregnancy