Reviews tagging 'Child death'

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen

14 reviews

howlinglibraries's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 

"It's a dangerous thing, to try and give someone everything. One day, you might find you've given away things you should've kept."

This was one of the most beautifully haunting books I've read in quite a while and has easily, instantly found its way onto the 'best books of 2024' list in my mind. My Darling Dreadful Thing is precisely what I want from a gothic horror novel: dark, romantic, claustrophobic, and downright chilling. Scenes of horrific imagery and even worse traumas take place against an immersive and poetic backdrop filled with forbidden love, and I adored it. It broke my heart more than once. I can't wait to read more of Johanna's works. ♥

“. . . there’s something missing from my life, something dreadful, something darling.”

✨ Representation: sapphic romance, queer MC, Indonesian and bi/pan love interest 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Racism, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

kylosten's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This story was a gothic horror dream. It has beautiful writing, a sapphic love story, and unsettling antagonists.
If you liked The Turn of the Screw or Our Hideous Progeny you will probably like this.
It's told by the MC, Roos Beckman, while she's talking to a psychiatric doctor after everything has unfolded so they know the ending but Roos has all the details.
This is going to be one I continue to think about.
If you go to pick this up I would be sure to check content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Sexual assault, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

grey_poppy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was my first horror novel. I really enjoyed how the author fit horror not just in the plot, but also in the words chosen as descriptors. It wasn't particularly scary, which I'm kinda glad for, but the descriptors were very vivid and I felt like I could visualize every creepy moment perfectly. Also appreciated the Sapphic romance in it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death and Incest

Minor: Abortion

cryptidrea's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Lesbophobia

nadiarausa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Vomit, Murder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Homophobia, Infertility, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Pregnancy

daniellestarredpages's review

2.0

I honestly have no idea why I finished this book. I gave it an extra half star just because I manged to finish it so that bumped it up from 1.5 stars.

I have to say I wasn't the biggest fan of the way the author left the existence of ghosts up to readers. As a concept I understand it but personally I felt this wasn't the story to leave that plot point open.

I was quite apathetic toward the main character and found her P.O.V a slog to get through but I also found the interspersed psychologist sessions to be slow as well, so I really can't say zi enjoyed much of the of the writing in this book.

The Sapphic relationship, I think did a good job of showing a toxic obsession. So that is one element I guess I could add to the pros list concerning this book.

Overall I can definitely say I didn't enjoy this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Incest, Infertility, and Miscarriage

zenzi2read's review

slow-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

3.75

Overall, this was a dark intense read. I liked that it was generally ambiguous about its protagonist, and whether the spirit she saw were real. I did not like that. It used the poor communication trope. That was the weakest part of the book for me. The last 30 pages for me or the weakest, but it was very strong until then.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse and Xenophobia

Minor: Child death

zgreyz's review

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Infertility, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: War

doomham's review

dark mysterious slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Child death, Incest, Sexual assault, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal death

bookeduntil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• 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

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Classism