Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

5 reviews

winnie_is_swag's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

i really liked this book. 'twas beautifully written, and it made me emotional. the main character is strong and independent. it's like Lord of the Flies meets a Handmaid's Tale. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Animal death, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Gore, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical content, Vomit, Sexual content, and Infertility

Minor: Sexual content, Rape, Classism, Abandonment, Homophobia, Cursing, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

sammba's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The best book that I vow to never read again. It is not for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

ginalucia's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 The book in 3 sentences:

• Feminism, friendship, and betrayal.
• Gritty, immersive, and frightening.
• Lord of the Flies meets The Power.

My impressions:

I’m not usually one to be outwardly thankful for Amazon’s daily deal but in this case, I truly am. I didn’t know I needed to read The Grace Year until I saw its beautiful cover gracing Amazon’s ‘review generator’ list.

Nothing says ‘go on, give me a go’ like a dystopian book sitting next to an unappealing New Year’s diet book for 99p.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the gritty nature of this book. I had expected an empowering YA dystopian with a little bit of added magic. I was pleasantly surprised. When I say this is Lord of the Flies meets The Power, I’m not joking. The Grace Year makes no apologies, it shows you the best and worst of people, especially those forced to be confined together.

The characters themselves are in constant flux. You either hate or sympathize and then you hate again. This in itself was incredibly refreshing. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where the women within it make constant mistakes and have genuine internal battles with each other and themselves. 

The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 though, was the romance. The author’s attempt at a romantic interest simply didn’t slot into the gritty and horrific story. In fact, it was almost like the book morphed into something else halfway through.

Luckily, this was short-lived, which meant we could get back to the parts that made this book great much quicker. Although it was brief, this part of the story felt unfinished and rushed. A real shame.

The Grace Year was so close to greatness, so close. But it did give me hope that we can mix imperfect characters, horror, an empowering storyline and all be better off for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Abandonment, Fatphobia, Excrement, Grief, Confinement, Mental illness, Animal death, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Homophobia, and Vomit

nutm3g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

The Grace Year was a wonderfully entertaining, heartbreaking, gruesome, and yet hopeful read that is reminiscent of The Handmaiden's Tale. Set in a society where sixteen year old girls are sent into the wilderness for a year to release their evil magic tied to their womanhood, we are left questioning what truly is the magic found in pages of this book. Tiernay is introduced as angry at the shackles of her birth, where she seems to hold herself distant from other women. As she uncovers the truth of the Grace Year while struggling to survive the horrors faced in the encampment, she also strives to do whatever she can to save her fellow grace year girls (as well as striving to survive for the sake of her younger sisters). The juxtaposition with how she almost views the girls in the same way men do (evil and like sheep/cattle) and her actions towards ensuring their safety even when her life is on the line does a wonderful job indicating the many different facets of how misogyny affects those it oppresses. The romance felt believable for the circumstances (both enemies to lovers and best friends to lovers), though I was a bit devastated on how a certain situation resulted. All the gruesome acts and morbid situations worked itself into a hopeful and open-ended last scene. There is so much more I want to say (really an essay worth of discussions), but I do not want to ruin the book for anyone. I would definitely recommend this book as it was a beautiful and devastating read while leaving me hopeful for the future of Garner County. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Torture, and Vomit

Moderate: Kidnapping, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

juliaseculture's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, Blood, and Child death