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greenteagrammie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
Hardest book I have ever read. Could not put it down.
Stayed with me for weeks.
Stayed with me for weeks.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Abandonment
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.
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.
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
saltphxchic's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-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
2.5
Note: while I tried not to give story, or anything big away, there is potential for mild spoilers in this rant.
I'm torn on the number of stars to give. Because I do feel like it was decent writing and there is definite potential. The book was able to hold my interest. I appreciate the turns and getting different perspectives from each character. But there were so many cringe moments, repetitiveness, and even predictability in the story that I just can't get past. I also find it hard to believe this was written by a Woman. I keep double-checking because I swear this has to be a male author.
Starting with our main female character who falls into the manic pixie dreamgirl trope (of course she's also a virgin), she's here to save everyone from themselves y'all 🙄, including a man who is more than 10 years her senior and definitely not a virgin. The author has entirely mysoginistic views on love and sex. Let's not even get into the super cringe OBGYN scene, has this author never been to a gynecologist before? She makes it seem like going to the doctor's an amusement ride and that you'll barely escape cumming while there. That's not even broaching the ethical side of him even agreeing to see her as a patient.
We also find the characters in typical gender roles, with our main female offering up herself, her time, and her money to clean his apartment and fill his fridge with food (he's a doctor and likely makes loads more than her). This man also doesn't even want her there, nor does she live there, but were supposed to believe this is healthy for her, just because she's taking care of him and his curmudgeonly father? Meanwhile, she has time to do this as she works full time, has a babysitting side gig, is editing a novel in her free time, and lives no where near him? He can't even be bothered to acknowledge her work or thank her. In typical male fashion, he just pretends everything just magically appears stocked and cleaned. Because apparently an adult man in his mid-thirties can't be bothered to take care of himself. He even somehow goes for weeks without even realizing his father has chased away his housekeeper. He doesn't bother checking in on his own employee (or paying her?) and he sells himself the lie that maybe his housekeeper just showed up again one day. Typical men, you dont have to arrange cleaning services, women just show up and do it for you!
Then we've got the tiny bit of pregnancy story at the end, well this is glossed over other than to make sure we know she just has a perfect pregnancy, with no issues, pains, etc. Of course our now 23 year old manic pixie girl is perfect in every way and doesnt complain about the same stuff majority women do during pregnancy. This must be why the main male loves dating someone so much younger than him. Apparently she's just a walk in the park.
There is also nothing emotional or sexual from a woman's point of view in the sex scenes. I felt they would more appropriately fit on pornhub as they're written for the male gaze, i.e. talking about how wet the female is i.e."The wetness pooled, running down my thigh." I think every scene mentions her wetness at some point, even telling us "Her wetness could be seen from satellites."
There are just so many cringe moments, especially surrounding the main characters virginity and the man's faux altruistic view of not taking it, queue back to the obgyn scene. Ugh, I just want to roll my eyes. This man constantly takes advantage of this woman, then feigns altruism. It's beyond frustrating. I want to be clear, I am not against a steamy book. I have read plenty of steamy books. But the sex scenes in this book would not get to me as a woman, they sound more like the typical sex men think is good, i.e. sex that is lacking even just basic touching and foreplay that I think most women appreciate. I think for most women sex is about the journey, not the end goal. It is clear these scenes were simply to get off, and clearly make it seem women get off just as easily as men.
Don't even get me started on the blowjob scene where he basically tells her "Good girl" (OM-barf!) and of course she likes it, she wants so much to be a "good girl" that she takes half his "assault rifle, larger than legal cock" and readily slurps up his jizz, "Thick, white ropes shot out of him, landing on my lips, tongue, teeth. He palmed the back of my head, guiding me forward. My lips wrapped around the tip of his cock to accept the rest. He filled my mouth, tasting earthy and warm. I swallowed, unable to get enough of him."
All this behind a thin door in his doctor's office, while his employees likely listen on the other side. Talk about professionalism. He probably f****** multiple women, without condoms mind you, in his office and then he gets to continue to be one of the top Doctors in New York, trusted by women, for their OB-GYN needs. Ugh, so much insidious misogyny.
As you can tell from my review, the misogyny is where most of my anger lies, but I have problems with the rest of the story as well. The entire idea that this kid who, they're both grieving, worked so hard to get accepted into Harvard just for the sole purpose of having someone read and edit his book so he can present it to her.... The entire idea is just ridiculous. And as someone who has dealt with 2 family members committing suicide it feels appalling to me to explain away somebody's suicidal ideation and life planning like this. Years of hard work, just for someone you met once a year, that you never planned on following through with for yourself? It's not believable and takes away from the grief the author wants to portray.
I also found a lot of the story was predictable, especially the so called big dropper at the end that was delivered by the reformed curmudgeonly father. I won't give away his news, but I saw it coming 100 miles away, among other predictable storylines in this book.
I think the author has potential, they can write well, and for as much as I hated this book, I did finish it. It could have been shorter, or perhaps if they drew more on the emotions they wanted to convey (grief, sadness, depression, healing, understanding, connections) then I would have devoured its length. But the sexual tension was so glaring and took over everything, there was no room for other emotions to be considered. I feel it was a disservice to this story and it's characters. Because I see how emotionally powerful this book could have been.
It's clear from the sneak peak of the next book at the end, the author hasn't changed writing styles. Immediately we are greeted by a 10 year age gap between the male/female characters. I'm not even going to start that one. What does a newly 18 year old girl have to give a 28 year old man. How about dating someone at least 25, then at least her brain is finished developing and not as easily accessible to your male grooming.
I'm torn on the number of stars to give. Because I do feel like it was decent writing and there is definite potential. The book was able to hold my interest. I appreciate the turns and getting different perspectives from each character. But there were so many cringe moments, repetitiveness, and even predictability in the story that I just can't get past. I also find it hard to believe this was written by a Woman. I keep double-checking because I swear this has to be a male author.
Starting with our main female character who falls into the manic pixie dreamgirl trope (of course she's also a virgin), she's here to save everyone from themselves y'all 🙄, including a man who is more than 10 years her senior and definitely not a virgin. The author has entirely mysoginistic views on love and sex. Let's not even get into the super cringe OBGYN scene, has this author never been to a gynecologist before? She makes it seem like going to the doctor's an amusement ride and that you'll barely escape cumming while there. That's not even broaching the ethical side of him even agreeing to see her as a patient.
We also find the characters in typical gender roles, with our main female offering up herself, her time, and her money to clean his apartment and fill his fridge with food (he's a doctor and likely makes loads more than her). This man also doesn't even want her there, nor does she live there, but were supposed to believe this is healthy for her, just because she's taking care of him and his curmudgeonly father? Meanwhile, she has time to do this as she works full time, has a babysitting side gig, is editing a novel in her free time, and lives no where near him? He can't even be bothered to acknowledge her work or thank her. In typical male fashion, he just pretends everything just magically appears stocked and cleaned. Because apparently an adult man in his mid-thirties can't be bothered to take care of himself. He even somehow goes for weeks without even realizing his father has chased away his housekeeper. He doesn't bother checking in on his own employee (or paying her?) and he sells himself the lie that maybe his housekeeper just showed up again one day. Typical men, you dont have to arrange cleaning services, women just show up and do it for you!
Then we've got the tiny bit of pregnancy story at the end, well this is glossed over other than to make sure we know she just has a perfect pregnancy, with no issues, pains, etc. Of course our now 23 year old manic pixie girl is perfect in every way and doesnt complain about the same stuff majority women do during pregnancy. This must be why the main male loves dating someone so much younger than him. Apparently she's just a walk in the park.
There is also nothing emotional or sexual from a woman's point of view in the sex scenes. I felt they would more appropriately fit on pornhub as they're written for the male gaze, i.e. talking about how wet the female is i.e."The wetness pooled, running down my thigh." I think every scene mentions her wetness at some point, even telling us "Her wetness could be seen from satellites."
There are just so many cringe moments, especially surrounding the main characters virginity and the man's faux altruistic view of not taking it, queue back to the obgyn scene. Ugh, I just want to roll my eyes. This man constantly takes advantage of this woman, then feigns altruism. It's beyond frustrating. I want to be clear, I am not against a steamy book. I have read plenty of steamy books. But the sex scenes in this book would not get to me as a woman, they sound more like the typical sex men think is good, i.e. sex that is lacking even just basic touching and foreplay that I think most women appreciate. I think for most women sex is about the journey, not the end goal. It is clear these scenes were simply to get off, and clearly make it seem women get off just as easily as men.
Don't even get me started on the blowjob scene where he basically tells her "Good girl" (OM-barf!) and of course she likes it, she wants so much to be a "good girl" that she takes half his "assault rifle, larger than legal cock" and readily slurps up his jizz, "Thick, white ropes shot out of him, landing on my lips, tongue, teeth. He palmed the back of my head, guiding me forward. My lips wrapped around the tip of his cock to accept the rest. He filled my mouth, tasting earthy and warm. I swallowed, unable to get enough of him."
All this behind a thin door in his doctor's office, while his employees likely listen on the other side. Talk about professionalism. He probably f****** multiple women, without condoms mind you, in his office and then he gets to continue to be one of the top Doctors in New York, trusted by women, for their OB-GYN needs. Ugh, so much insidious misogyny.
As you can tell from my review, the misogyny is where most of my anger lies, but I have problems with the rest of the story as well. The entire idea that this kid who, they're both grieving, worked so hard to get accepted into Harvard just for the sole purpose of having someone read and edit his book so he can present it to her.... The entire idea is just ridiculous. And as someone who has dealt with 2 family members committing suicide it feels appalling to me to explain away somebody's suicidal ideation and life planning like this. Years of hard work, just for someone you met once a year, that you never planned on following through with for yourself? It's not believable and takes away from the grief the author wants to portray.
I also found a lot of the story was predictable, especially the so called big dropper at the end that was delivered by the reformed curmudgeonly father. I won't give away his news, but I saw it coming 100 miles away, among other predictable storylines in this book.
I think the author has potential, they can write well, and for as much as I hated this book, I did finish it. It could have been shorter, or perhaps if they drew more on the emotions they wanted to convey (grief, sadness, depression, healing, understanding, connections) then I would have devoured its length. But the sexual tension was so glaring and took over everything, there was no room for other emotions to be considered. I feel it was a disservice to this story and it's characters. Because I see how emotionally powerful this book could have been.
It's clear from the sneak peak of the next book at the end, the author hasn't changed writing styles. Immediately we are greeted by a 10 year age gap between the male/female characters. I'm not even going to start that one. What does a newly 18 year old girl have to give a 28 year old man. How about dating someone at least 25, then at least her brain is finished developing and not as easily accessible to your male grooming.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
samix3reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
louise_lion's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
slow-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
4.0
I was surprised at the rate in which I consumed this book. I started reading it because I thought it would be a light smutty book about an ObGyn and his little brothers best friend who happens to be his patient (lol that’s barley even a subplot). I think the sheer gravity of the content in this book made it in-put-downable, like watching a train wreck of a meteor shower or an awkward first date. These characters are infuriatingly human, ridiculously and painfully relatable. The subject matters addressed in Darling Venom are all too relatable to many of us and if that’s the case for you please reach out to someone you love or someone who loves you. The suicide hotline is 800-273-8255. As Tate would say, “you are breathing, and it is beautiful, and I am so grateful for that.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Death of parent
Minor: Child death, Infertility, and Self harm
clairereadstoomuch's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.75
This story is SO powerful. Oh, Kellan...
I honestly had no clue about the plot going in but DAMN. this story gripped me from the beginning. I couldn't put it down.
It's such a powerful story about life and second chances while all the same tackling suicide and depression as well as trauma.
Your heart will ache for Kellan, for Charlie and Leah and for Tate as well.
This story is about making mistakes, it's about miscommunication that could lead to tragedy. It's for those left behind, to those struggling, to those who don't believe they deserve to be happy.
But you do. And 'Darling Venom' will tell you the same.
I honestly had no clue about the plot going in but DAMN. this story gripped me from the beginning. I couldn't put it down.
It's such a powerful story about life and second chances while all the same tackling suicide and depression as well as trauma.
Your heart will ache for Kellan, for Charlie and Leah and for Tate as well.
This story is about making mistakes, it's about miscommunication that could lead to tragedy. It's for those left behind, to those struggling, to those who don't believe they deserve to be happy.
But you do. And 'Darling Venom' will tell you the same.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Self harm, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Child death and Sexual content