Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl

24 reviews

mxajlikesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

3.5

Things I liked:
- short chapters, quick pacing, light and easy to read
- the friendship between Holly and Stacey
- emphasis on female friendship, found family and cameraderie
- some fun gore and fight scenes
- interesting take on/new version of vampire lore
- Holly and Parker were very cute together despite their relationship being a bit difficult to believe
- the teacher character

Things I didn't like:
- for a bunch of teen vampires that want to save others from their fate, they're very callous about killing (apart from Holly with her code), including eating teens
- Elton was a very one dimensional villain, Gwen even more so
- would've liked to have learned more about rose
- the romance with Parker felt based on very little and I didn't quite get how and why she fell for Holly in such a short space of time with so few interactions 

Enjoyed it overall, would've liked it a lot more with some tweaks to the writing and characterisation and more depth in places but was a fun read for sure

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Dementia

kt2e56's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

1.5

This felt like it was the author’s first time ever writing a book: so many repeated phrases, no proper sense of pacing, a romance with absolutely no chemistry or believability, the blandest dialogue, every cliché imaginable, and the most egregious crime an author could commit: ZERO depth and personality for the characters. 

Each character spoke exactly the same despite their age/time period differences. Like the entire book felt like one person arguing with themself. 

The book was told from Holly’s point of view but she had no real personality to her. 

Rose’s personality was just the author describing her outfits (and she was the only character who ever got such devoted details when it came to clothing. Everyone else might have been naked based on the lack of description they received). 

Ida’s personality was that she was supposed to be the dark, edgy one who makes “quirky” art projects using the bodies of her victims but like that’s literally it. Just that one note played over and over and over again. 

Parker was beautiful. That’s it. Beautiful (no other character had the same level of description when it came to physical appearance) and unbelievably foolish because

her little plan to help save the day in the end truly made no sense. Her being turned into a vampire made all of the hard work of the other characters feel pointless. Her romance with Holly wasn’t believable in any way. They barely knew each other. There was no genuine buildup there. None. The author couldn’t be subtle if she tried so the romance between Parker and Holly was not even remotely a surprise but it felt like it came out of nowhere because there was no actual spark or connection between the two characters, just lots of cliches and bland dialogue.

Side characters were also given just one personality trait per person.

It’s a shame this book was as bad as it was because the premise sounded great and I

love me a sapphic romance! But c’mon. Us queer women need to stop settling for mediocre books like this because we want representation so badly.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Dementia, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

kay_w's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Dementia, Stalking, Death of parent, and Abandonment

rose_88's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

I loved the premise of this book, and I loved how the author completely debunked most of the myths about vampires and created her own lore.

I also loved the scenes with the three girls basically talking shit about their ex.     

I also adored the relationship between Parker and Holly. There were so cute and it broke my heart when Parker lost all her memories except for the last day, but it was amazing of her to sacrifice her memories to kill Elton. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Dementia

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

funny sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, Dementia, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

rachellyeah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Dementia, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-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? Yes

3.5

It was fun! I liked it! I wasn't riveted. Nice emotional twist at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual content, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

atlas_shruggs's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious fast-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

"She's a lost girl."... "She's not afraid of death because she doesn't think her life matters. Her world is black and gray. We're something other, so she looks at us and sees color."
As someone who would've probably been considered a lost girl at a point in my life, this book touched a little place in my heart that I didn't know needed the hug this book provided. It was a really nice, refreshing type of vampire book that I've only read once before in Heather Brewer's Fang Girl. It was funny, it didn't always take itself too seriously, but it still managed to be real and emotional, showing a side of immortality that I feel vampire media doesn't cover very often. I also found Parker and Holly's relationship very cute, if a bit instalove-y. It did definitely feel like a teenage romance, which it is. 
Rose is definitely my favourite of the group, followed closely by Stacey and then Parker. I just felt like they weren't really characters I've seen often, especially Rose, with her plants and pretty dresses and keeping dying men in her room as she feeds on them. 
Overall I would give it 5 stars simply because of how much I related to it, and how seen it made me feel. It felt like a healing hug, and I love it for that. I can't really see any glaring faults in it either. The found family is amazing, Ida's art projects are hilarious, and Elton can go die in a ditch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Dementia, and Death of parent

metaparadox's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Murder

kynajayne's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

4.5

I really liked this one. Very different twist on the vampire story, and a good sapphic romance too!

I loved how Parker, the damsel in distress, managed to save all their butts in the end. I imagine her making many beautiful memories in the future. I also loved how Holly fed on creepy dudes lol.

The exploration of memory and feelings and how they change and change us was interesting too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Sexual harassment