Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

True Love Bites by Joy Demorra

5 reviews

steph_weigle's review

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

black_cat_iiix's review

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, and Alcoholism

everentropy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Ableism

heyjaycee's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

Another hefty novel, I motored through Hunger Pangs just revelling in the sweetness of queer supernatural men falling in love with hardly a hiccup to their romance. I lost momentum three quarters of the way through, partly just my own reading slump, and partly because it was an uneventful period between the romantic climax and the end of the book. I picked it up again two months later and devoured the ending, hardly able to believe it was over.

Not only does Hunger Pangs give us a healthy queer m/m romance, it also delves deep into disability and chronic pain—dying from it, living with it, how society treats you when you have it. Since I follow Joy Demorra on Tumblr, I know this is her personal experience shining through. Her refusal to compromise on her disability representation in this novel—to water it down or shove it into a back seat for marketability—enriches the story and Nathan as a character, and I'm grateful for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Medical trauma

Minor: Drug use

greatdistractions's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This is my go-to comfort book right now! The romance is charming and healthy, the disability representation makes me feel seen, and the worldbuilding is intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Colonisation