Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Arsenic and Adobo, by Mia P. Manansala

6 reviews

katesio's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This book will make you hungry and likely go out and try to find Ube Extract from your local Asian grocery store. 

The author has a disclaimer at the beginning that sets the tone for light hearted crime novel. 

I think the plot is… not great. There are a lot of holes and parts that just don’t make sense for the main character to be doing or the process of a criminal investigation. 

In saying all that, the crime part I believe is secondary to the wonderful culture of the main characters family. It brings a warm, wholesome Filipino-American hug with descriptive writings of food, a drizzle of family guilt and a pinch of body shaming. 

It’s an easy read, don’t take it too seriously and enjoy the Tita Rosie family. 

But I did have flashbacks of family members criticising you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder

kbairbooks's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I love how good based this book was, I love the diversity, the friendships, and the culture. But I didn’t like the fat phobia and the aunties …. at all. I didn’t like the romances and she didn’t have chemistry with anybody. Her reactions to everything were so dramatic for a 25 year old. The ice at the end was random and I really didn’t connect with this book at all. Not for me I guess. Probably won’t read book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Violence, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Hate crime, and Panic attacks/disorders

katiesendlesstbr's review

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

 I'm a sucker for any book with a dachshund involved, so maybe I'm biased, but I really enjoyed this! I thought it was very cute and fun, and I was absolutely craving lumpia every time I sat down to read this. This is a 'cozy mystery', so there's a lot of things that are unrealistic, but if you're looking for something fun, I do recommend (with a caveat).

Something to note, particularly after reading Katie Colson's review - while the author did add what I thought was a nice content warning in the very beginning, she absolutely did not warn of the ableism concerning diabetes. One character's diabetes is treated VERY insensitively by the main character and her family, so if that is something that will upset you, give this book a pass. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Murder, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Violence

Minor: Car accident

cdiddy's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

Captures the family dynamics so well and was a fun, quick read. Can’t wait to try out the recipes in the back! Best friend was a little bit of a brat, though. Looking forward to the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, and Addiction

Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Violence

internationalreads's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

kissievendor's review

lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

I was quite bored. It was a fun story at first. Also has a lot of rep!! Like, a lot, effortlessly, like mention of they (as a person), lesbian, different etnicities...
But the mystery was boring, nothing happened, and the resolution kinda came out of nowhere.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Drug abuse

Moderate: Addiction and Emotional abuse