Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith

15 reviews

leahlovesloslibros's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Frances Halloway lives as a seamstress in 1911 New York City, where she spends most of her time mourning the recent death of her brother, William. When her boss attempts to attack her and her sewing shears end up in his neck, she is quickly named as the prime suspect - only she has no idea how it happened. Two women in caps quickly arrive and take her to Haxahaven Sanitarium, which Frances is surprised to learn is actually a disguised school for witches. Frances yearns to learn more about her magic than what they are teaching at Haxahaven, so when Finn - an attractive young man with magic - shows up and offers to teach her all he knows, she is eager to learn. She must decide whether the risk of secretly meeting with Finn is worth putting her new friends in danger, and what other secrets may lie deep beneath the surface.

There were so many great elements to this book: witches, boarding school, murder mystery, women's rights/feminist movement - loved them! 

What I liked: 
- Diverse characters, though please be aware of some content warnings surrounding certain characters, especially a prominent Native American side character
- LGBTQIAP+ representation
- lots of feminist ideals throughout the book
- the twists and turns throughout the book (although some were predictable)
- imperfect characters

What I didn't like: 
- some of the characters felt underdeveloped, especially some of the side characters at Haxahaven
- Frances was kind of whiny and impulsive at times, which I think was partially due to her age and struggles with grief (seeing as this is a YA book, I can't really hold it against her, as it seems that many of her reactions were age-appropriate for a girl in her situation)
- some of the plot twists were predictable

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

Additional TW/CW: Native American boarding schools

caidyn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-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

3.0

Enjoyable, but it fell flat in the end. I loved how the book examined sisterhood and the importance of women supporting other women, as well as how processing trauma helps with healing. Yet, I found the pacing awkward and it was, as a plot, kind of meh. Still fine, but not necessarily a book I need to revisit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Racism

levesc17's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Some of the plot points were rushed, I would have happily read an additional 50 pages for things to feel paced effectively. Unclear if there will be a sequel but if there is I would read it because a few of the mysteries weren’t revealed or solved. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Colonisation

molliemoments's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Forced institutionalization

clovelatte's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Minor: Stalking