Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

One for My Enemy by Olivie Blake

10 reviews

bookbelle5_17's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

Review of One for my Enemy

By: Olivie Blake

            Two witch families, both alike in magic, in dangerous Manhattan we lay our scene. From ancient rivalry, results a new war for power where wicked deals make wicked hands unclean.  From forth the heirs of these two witches, two pairs of rivaled lovers are forced to make a sacrifice. 

            This is a paranormal retelling of Romeo and Juliet that was sexy and exciting as the next generation must bear the burden of their parent’s greed.  Blake creates several characters that each have their own personalities, but because Blake only wanted to focus certain a lot of the other characters suffered lack of development. The romances were enjoyable to read, and the sexy times aren’t two graphic. Sasha was my favorite of the sisters.  I was disappointed by the Fae, Byrn, who was introduced as someone playing both sides.  He is implied as half human and half Fae, but he came as a weak and passive character, just sassy.  He doesn’t have much power, and the witches have more power that he covets.  I know the author wanted to focus on the witches being the dangerous ones, but I guess I’m used to Fae having more power than humans.  There is drug use with characters selling drug that causes hallucinations and puts you in euphoric state of mind.  There is also violence, because this is a mafic type of story but with witches and magic. I liked the references to Russian mythology and fairytales combined with the retelling of the famous Shakespeare play. There’s a lot of clever ways Blake pays homage to the original Shakespeare play, but if you’ve never read or seen Romeo and Juliet you can still enjoy this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

chasinggrace's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

I cried - a lot. If you’re a sucker for all-consuming declarations of love, this is your book. Knowing that it was a Romeo and Juliet retelling didn’t make it any less hurtful!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

kwthor's review against another edition

challenging sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent

irenetrexqueen's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

2.5

I love twists on classics, fantasy IRL, and Russian culture, so one would think this was perfect for me and boy would they be wrong. 

I like the Atlas series so I though give this one a try and honestly if not for my reading goal for the month this would have been a DNF 20% in. I dislike the explanation of the characters at the beginning, the way it is likened to a play, but lacks that structure. Almost no world building as one has to keep up with the 25 (exaggeration) characters and their 2 to 4 names. If the story was good I could get past that, but really it was the definition of meh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Bullying, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexism

aysha_blake's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol

amelianotthepilot's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A spectacular r+j retelling. I don’t usually like r+j retellings as the plot is too obvious but this was a really interesting take on it. It follows two magical mob families, The Federovs-a patriarch and his three sons, and The Antanovas-a matriarch and her 7 daughters. We slowly find out the reason why they are rivals as it destroys all of their lives. A story of political intrigue, mafia deals and murders, and forbidden loves.

I loved the characters and the plot kept me guessing. The constant perspective switching was also fun. The shakespeare/r+j references were also great.

My only complaint is that Olivia Blake’s writing can sometimes be too long and flowery. It’s lovely to read but sometimes I just want to read faster. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

olivie blake you will always be famous 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, and Alcohol

jessiereads98's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

Olivie Blake has devastated me once again. She drags you into the old world hidden within the new and the hope within the tragedy. The characters are compelling and the prose is gorgeous. Hits just like a Romeo and Juliet retelling should.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Alcohol

soniajoy98's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Trafficking