Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

27 reviews

standardchaos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I just wish there was a bit more to Mindy's arranged marriage plotline, but besides that this book was great! Humor, romance, murder, mystery, this book has it all. I thoroughly enjoyed it and actually love hearing "old, not dead" type stories.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism and Suicide

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

tallglassowater's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

livs_getting_bookish's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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

I loved this book! I'm not sure if it's because I added this to my TBR over a year ago and then just blindly picked it up, but I was not expecting the social justice aspect of this book, and heavy themes. I laughed, I cried, I blushed, and I fell in love with these Punjabi widows. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

dani_reis's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Kind of bored with the pace feeling too slow. Bit too much like an anthology of erotica, which I should have expected.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

scmiller's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Biphobia, Homophobia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

linnielou's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity, Rape, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

sakisreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

I was so pleasantly surprised that this was by Balli Kaur Jaswal, because I recently read ‘Now You See Us’ and loved it ✨

This story was SUBLIME. Lighthearted moments with touching parts in between, this is definitely worth a read ❤️ 

I’ll discuss some of my favourite parts but there’ll be some spoilers so I’ve put them in my spoiler tags ✨

I was so delighted that Nikki had her happy endings; getting justice for Maya (or starting to), finding love with Jason, making friends with Kulwinder etc. I was so invested in her and her widow friends, I kept rooting for them 🥳

Another one! The murder by Jaggi and the assault by him and Tarampal was very upsetting, but I was so happy when it brought the widows back in again 🥰 Arvinder and Sheena were two particular favourites; badassery and femininity are not mutually exclusive 🤷🏻‍♀️

Asian mums express their love in the same ways and so this excerpt got me 🥹 

‘Grace's gesture stirred something in Nikki. She couldit believe how much she missed Mum all of a sudden - Mum who had pushed money into her hand the same insistent way the first time she returned home for dinner after moving out.’

It’s 4.5 out of 5 stars for me ✨ Big fan! Thank you 😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Grief, and Death of parent

miss_fish's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Murder

haley49's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This book! Was! So! Good! 
I read it in a day. I loved all the sweet ensemble characters, the growth of the leads, the pacing, the themes. There were so many valuable themes throughout the story but none felt rushed or overly forced. They felt like a natural exploration of the Punjabi community’s experience in the UK and beyond. I loved how casually muslim they were and how the different characters were different ranges of religious. It felt so realistic. Everyone’s emotions seemed so realistic and the relationships between the women were gold. Obviously bits and pieces were exaggerated but all the women felt authentic to the spirit of “auntie”  culture. 

I really appreciated the discussion on middle aged and older women and their importance to communities. Their emotions, sexuality, education, desires, and even gossip were all valid parts of them; and thus essential elements of their community. It was a sweet lesson that a person’s value does not decrease with age nor does it depend upon status, money, gender, education, birth place, children, romantic relationships (present or not), etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Infertility, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

mazzeroo's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Grief and Religious bigotry

Minor: Emotional abuse, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting