Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman

13 reviews

akiskies's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Darker than expected. Well written and engaging. The novel is broken down into a few different episodes/investigations which kept the story moving. Looking forward to the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

emma_sky's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, and Lesbophobia

lorialdenholuta's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

 I noticed other reviewers expected a lighthearted romp, based on the book’s cover. This is a fine lesson in NOT judging a book by its cover. Our Ill-Mannered Ladies, while quite prim and proper in appearance, are anything but. In the Regency Era, women were treated as less important than men. If the trio of adventures in this book are based in some truth, women were treated horribly, often to the point of torture and even death.

The stories are dark, revealing the worst aspects of Regency men’s behavior. But, this is balanced a little by the inclusion of a good man with a sympathetic heart, who believes in the value of women. You won’t recognize this at first, as he’s a character that’s not fully revealed at our first meeting. This was one of my favorite aspects of the book. the slow revelation of a truly good and worthy man.

But back to our Ill-Mannered Ladies. 42-year-old twin sisters Lady Augusta and Lady Julia Colebrook are close enough to share ‘twin language’, with the ability to exchange entire sentences via a meaningful look. They are also financially independent and quite capable of looking after themselves.

Together, they fight crime!

Okay, that was flippant, but really, they do. Specifically, crimes against helpless women committed by men who believe their gender makes it all right to do so. This book follows their exploits during three adventures. Each deals with different situations featuring ladies in distress, though I found the sister’s cunning plans to be very similar in each story. This didn’t detract from my interest in the stories, it was just something I noticed.

I mentioned earlier that these stories are a bit dark. They need to be in order for the women’s plights to be meaningful. I must caution though, the final story is *very* dark, and to my mind goes completely overboard with the use of a certain substance that all humans produce but are usually not compelled to wallow in. My goodness. The digging of a short trench and a daily bucket of water would have solved the problem right away. But the author clearly felt the need of some shock value to underscore the horrors of the situation.

That aside, I was quite absorbed by the lives and adventures of the two sisters, and all the women who benefitted from them. Also, I’m a big fan of the Victorian era but my knowledge of the Regency era has lots of gaps. In particular, I liked learning about sealing wafers. I knew about sealing wax, but wafers were new to me, and now I love them. So practical! Go google them and see for yourself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

lea's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

The trigger warnings are no joke. I have barely ever been triggered by a book but this was hard to get through at times. 

It's insta love too and the ending was kinda unsatisfying. 

For how hard it is to read, I am still giving it 3 stars because it felt honest in those parts. 

Edit: nah the more I think about it the less I like it. Lowering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

edhyndman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Medical content

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

smiti_nathan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Outing

emilywc's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Trafficking, Medical trauma, and Murder

rhi_'s review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Deportation

goldseamedglass's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity and Slavery

katiescott's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail