Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

41 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, and Infertility

perdita's review against another edition

hopeful sad tense medium-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? Yes

2.75

The book's synopsis was what brought me to read it - yet I was disappointed. There are many things that The Haunting of Alejandra gets right: for example, the portrayal of intergenerational trauma, and the toll that motherhood takes on women (and it emphasises how important it is for women to have some sort of identity besides being mothers!). Nevertheless, many of the characters felt one-dimensional. Some of the twists were forced and the explanation for them was weak, to say the least. The writing style felt off, and disjointed at times. Overall, I believe that this book would have benefitted from further editing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse and Death of parent

disenchantedx23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment

allyem_reads's review against another edition

4.0

7.14 CAWPILE 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Infidelity, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Colonisation

erinlikestoread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt

time4tori2read's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Blood, and Grief

osoordinary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

While Alejandra and I live VERY different lives, so much of her pain and sadness, despair, negative self-talk, etc. was a direct description of what I so often struggle with. To see it all depicted in writing was beautiful and normalizing in a way. I give it 4.5 stars because two major moments fell flat for me. Overall, this was a great horror with Mexican-American heritage and lore highlighted. This was a fantastic twist on the legend of La Llorona, and entwining the idea of general curses into Alejandra's journey was engrossing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Generational curses

leila_reads_too_much's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Dementia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Colonisation

sophi_b's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

bitchywitch's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.25

If you want a quick read, I got through this in less than 24 hours. I was curious about the generational trauma and how it would be addressed. Reading Alejandra's ancestors' POVs was probably one of my favorite parts. 

I feel this book was too explicit in its themes. There was no subtlety to it. The therapist she sees is used to explain what we could've inferred was going on. There's not much, if any, character development. 

If you are looking for a quick horror read, this is for you. If you're looking to explore themes of generational trauma, you probably should look elsewhere.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body shaming and Abandonment

Minor: Dementia and War