Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Darling Venom by Parker S. Huntington

7 reviews

rubellaface's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.75

I read this novel without really reading the synopsis. I just knew I liked books by this author. And my god, while I wouldn't recommend doing that if you're faint of heart, this novel gut punched me. Haymaker to the heart. I was not okay. 

Then together with our FMC, we learned to grieve and heal and try to make the best of things. 

The author has a magical way with words, and having a novel within a novel takes the reader on a journey through the neuroses of being a writer and the power words have within and without the author's intention. 

And somewhere along the way we also get to fall in love with older brother Tate-- a man we've been groomed to hate from the beginning and an OBGYN who made me regret for a split second choosing to have only female gynos in my life. But like all main characters in a Parker S Huntington novel, there's more to him than meets the eye, and like all of us, he's a little broken inside too. 

I loved this novel. I loved Tate and Charlie. I still love Kellan. And I'm going to look closer at those I love and check in more. Just in case. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Sexism, Vomit, and Stalking

readwithyesi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kittens_say_meoww's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Where to begin, maybe by addressing the very few things I didn’t like. This book is…devastating. I cried often. It’s so well done and not at all what I expected. I will be buying a physical copy to cherish. The biggest cons are the HEA epilogue and the marketing both of which come off as cheap and inauthentic. This is marketed as romance and I suppose it technically is. However, it’s more apt to say it’s about grief, and flawed humans, and complexity of the human experience. It’s a book within a book. Why this story is marketed as dark romance is beyond me. It’s not “spicy” as it’s marketed and intimate scenes (albeit one) seem pretty authentic to everyday life. The cover(s) don’t represent the story, at all. It doesn’t even match the description of any of the characters. Moving on, some reviews mention the length of this book. And I can see that for a “best friends brother romance” it would seem long. But, as I’ve said that’s not actually a good description of the book in the first place. That being said, it feels like the ending was rushed. Without spoiling, it’s the classic everything sucks and is pulled together in the last chapter and the bow is the HEA 5 page epilogue. I hate thattt and in this particular story it cheapened it. Some of the angst in the middle (particularly as it pertains to Terri) could have been cut out to give more attention to a more authentic ending that honored all that the main characters had been through. All in all, I loved this book and it will be hard to move away from. I desperately wish I knew someone that had read it so I could talk about it with them. Best of luck, it won’t be what you expect it to be if tiktok sent you to it. Please realize it’s a messy, devastating, not overly exaggerated story of broken families and trauma and death. Even though it betrays some plot points, please  check triggers if you’re sensitive to almost anything. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

orangeaiya's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

Such a heartbreaking read but the ending makes up for the pain I was put through. Enjoyed how realistically flawed the characters were. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Self harm

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bbygirl21's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely completely loved this book. It had me on a complete emotional rollercoaster. I loved all the characters literally (aside from the characters at Kellen and Charlotte's school but they're not in a big chunk of this story so it's fine) even the ones you think you'll hate in the beginning by the end of the book you love them, flaws and everything. I literally could not stop reading this since I started it aside from the necessary things like eating.

The build up to Charlotte and Tate getting together was amazing. I felt their chemistry through and through even through all their hate for each other in the beginning. 

And Leah (Charlotte's sister) I found myself rooting for her on her journey as well with love and acceptance of herself and letting others in after heartbreak and emotional/physical scarring. And Jonah is the most patient man I every had the pleasure of reading about. He understood Leah's insecurities and loves her unconditionally despite her trying to push him away.

By the end we got three love stories. Kellen and Charlotte (first love), Tate and Charlotte (soulmates drawn together by fate) and then Leah and Jonah (the patient love that takes determination and persistence). I loved reading every single one of their love stories no matter how shortlived or long lasting they ended up being.

I honestly can't recommend this book enough. I just highly suggest checking the trigger/content warnings because it gets quite heavy throughout the entire book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

Minor: Bullying, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Stalking

frantically's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

this was basically just one giant hipaa violation (and i loved it)

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Tate and Charlotte had my crying out in frustration, just straight up wanting to cry and nevertheless, always rooting for them.

It was messy, it sad, it was happy, there was so much going on sometimes, I really wondered what this book was even supposed to be about 😂

Suicide and suicidal thoughts are something that's very close to my heart (and if I'd read this book a few years back, it probably would've been...bad for my mental health) and this is one of the few times where I've seen it portrayed accurately. Kellan and Charlotte's thoughts on it feel so real. And I could really feel with Charlotte and Tate being left behind — what did Kellan want to achieve? What was he thinking while jumping? I was always desperately hoping for one last chapter from his POV but of course, it never came.

I didn't expect this to be as much of a slow burn as it was but in the end, it was all so worth it, their relationship just progressed so beautifully, even if it was a bit of a mess sometimes but hey — that's real life, isn't it (and I'm always a sucker for both of the epilogue tropes ngl)?

The only reason this isn't getting 5 clean stars from me is the way that Terry — Tate and Kellan's father — is handled. Tate hates him for very understandable reasons and all Charlotte does is try to convince Tate to let Terry in again and forgive him. This is mainly just my own daddy issues coming through but I don't think Terry deserved any forgiveness and I don't like the progress his story takes.

Overall, such an emotional read that will definitely stay with me for some time. One of my new faves!

4.5 ⭐

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage