Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

12 reviews

leeghlee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Cursing

Moderate: Death of parent, Fatphobia, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Toxic relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Grief

Minor: Medical content, Mental illness, Dementia, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Stalking

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

An unsettling yet enjoyable read, this Southern Gothic story reflects on how nasty traditions and rotten ideologies can be lurking beneath the sweet-smelling rosebushes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Physical abuse

Minor: Vomit and Abandonment

Be warned that this book addresses generational trauma, C-PTSD due to abuse from a parental figure, abuses with the occult, parental neglect, swarms of insects, and one mention of semen in the occult ritual.

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

funny informative mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.0

Really funny in ways I didn’t expect! Sam was a great protagonist. Her logical scientist brain struggled so hard to process the bizarre reality of a haunted house. I think the insanity of it all was what made this story more cohesive. If the protag had been more credulous, the nature of the happenings of this book would’ve blistered and fallen apart. But because she was going step-by-step researching and attaching meaning to illogical things, when really wild stuff happened, it was fun rather than silly.

Don’t get me wrong, there was a sense of creepy and horror to it all. Definitely got tense. But Sam’s narration was a joy. It made the whole book so much funner than it needed to be. I especially loved the running bit about her phone trying to get service. 

Bonus points for the strong, fiery, fat protagonist who had no qualms about her body. And ruthlessly mocked those who did have a problem.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism

skeuomorphism's review against another edition

funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

love the humor! plot's a little slow on the build-up but trust that it's worth the read. and the suspense.....entomologist's kiss....i cannot express the sheer joy that i felt as a insect lover reading about sam's thoughts on bugs
+ the hardcover edition of this book is so pretty??????? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Cannibalism, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Racism and Animal death

mshiiken's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Body horror

Moderate: Abandonment, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming and Racism

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, and Racism

sarahmiller98's review against another edition

dark funny tense

4.0

It's funny that I read this book so close to How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix, because the two books share a number of themes: family, trauma, inheritance, child abandonment. This book though is pure T. Kingfisher, which means a very specific type of comfort read for me. When I read this author, I know I'm getting warmth, humour, practicality, and kindness. Sometimes that comes with a side of romance, or fantasy, or - in this case - horror. Often it contains a mix of all three. It takes a special writer to balance those elements - to make you smile one minute and genuinely creep you out the next - while still leaving you with an overall feeling of steady hope and goodwill.

In other words, I've read and loved the author's other horror novels, and this book is no exception to the trend. The protagonist is typically smart, level-headed, funny and relatable. Her relationship with her mother, which is central to the story, is likewise funny and endearing. As with all T. Kingfisher books, I cared instantly about the characters, which made me deeply invested in their situation as the horror gradually unfolded. Although the plot is a slow burn compared to some of the author's books, it never feels like the pacing drags. Structurally, it's a very well-balanced, well-crafted story that comes to a satisfying conclusion without sacrificing any of the little details of character and setting that make the author's books such a pleasure to read. Highly recommend, as usual.       

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Body horror, Violence, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

sasisaskia's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Body shaming

Moderate: Racism

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

T.K. always entertains me. This book is creepy and funny.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Blood, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Classism, Death of parent, and Death

booksthatburn's review against another edition

mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

In A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES, Sam is visiting her mother in the home they once shared with her now-deceased grandmother. However, most of the ways Sam's mother had decorated to make the place her own have been undone, and she doesn’t seem to understand or acknowledge why this would be disturbing. Little things start to add up, eventually going beyond what’s merely bizarre - transforming into something downright creepy. 

Because as a reader this is my introduction to Sam’s mother, it’s harder to immediately know how she ought to be acting, but Sam’s thoughts provide that context in a way that feels natural. It feels like Sam working through it in her own mind, and not just for the benefit of me as a spectator. This is one of those cases where the things that I like best about the book are the ways that my understanding of of what's going on suddenly shifted as new information became available. It's short enough that to discuss most of what I loved in the latter half of the book would spoil many of the best parts of the experience. In general, I like the way that this played with my expectations of what a horror novel could or should be. There were several layers of revelations that didn't really feel like plot twists, as much as they involved realizing the meaning of information that had been said previously, but was transformed by new events. 

I love the ending, that ramps up the pace and the stakes to be suddenly exciting just as everything looked like it was going to wrap up more calmly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, and Self harm

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Dementia, Fatphobia, Vomit, Mental illness, and Alcohol