Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais

6 reviews

silverhill's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dysphoria, Confinement, Grief, Dementia, and Death

Minor: Transphobia, Mental illness, Alcohol, Cancer, Animal cruelty, Racism, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Police brutality

katattack345's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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? N/A

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. It was everything I hoped it to be and more! I would have given it a 5/5 but there were parts that I found to be predictable. But it was still an amazing read! Would recommend to any fellow witchy person

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Confinement, Dementia, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Moderate: Outing, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Cursing, Gun violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, and Violence

infinite_harness9030's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Grief, Misogyny, Police brutality, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cursing, Dysphoria, and Gun violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Racism, Bullying, Body shaming, Alcohol, Infertility, Cancer, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

morganperks's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

can you say Hocus Pocus vibes? Persephone is a gem. smash that patriarchy babe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Transphobia, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Abandonment, Dementia, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Deadnaming, and Death of parent

bookforthought's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective 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? Yes

4.0

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor was the perfect read to transition from summer to autumn, with its witchy vibes, delightful characters, and a healthy dose of patriarchy smashing!

I have to admit, it took me a while to fully get into this as we are plunged into Moonshyne Manor in the midst of a crisis, meeting (almost) all the sisterhood members in close succession. I needed a few beats to remember who was who, but once I did, I soon became really attached to them. I loved how each witch had a special talent and an affinity for a different type of magic (plants, animals, inventions, seduction…) and how different all their personalities were.

It also quickly became clear that there was more, much more, lurking beneath the surface, with multiple risks for the sisterhood and old secrets coming to light. The author did an excellent job of spreading the clues around for me to pick up like tiny breadcrumbs drawing the trail to that beautiful ending. There were quite a few things I hadn’t seen coming, so I was very pleasantly surprised, but also kept wanting to read to finally understand how all the pieces fit together.

The alternating POVs worked really well to help me see things from the different sisters’ perspectives, and I liked how smoothly it all flowed: even though at times the writing was slightly repetitive, these sections were never prevalent and were improved by developments further down the line.

This book was so many things! It combines some of my favourite things, like witches, heists and secrets, as well as some tropes I love such as found family. It also tackles a wide range of themes, like ageing and the relationship between older and younger generations; the importance of friendships and family; love and forgiveness; and, above all, sisterhood. Mix them all together, sprinkle in a good dose of humour and magic, and you have a great, heartwarming, autumnal witchy read!

Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this book as part of the blog tour organised by Random Things Tours and Harper360. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Misogyny, and Transphobia

Moderate: Dementia and Grief

Minor: Death

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-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? Yes

4.0

This was a great modern day witch story centered around a group of women in their late 70’s / early 80’s. This story is more than just about a group of women who are behind on their mortgage payments. This revolves around sisterhood, abandonment, death, ageism, sexism, tinges of racism, gender identity and sexual identity as well. This does sometimes felt a little too “woke” when it came to dialogue / certain scenarios when Persephone is brought into the story (the teenager who immerses herself with this group.) I’m glad Ursula is not painted as someone who needed to be redeemed too. But a good palette cleanser if you don’t want anything to horrifying but still in the spooky / witchy realm

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Deadnaming, Alcohol, Death of parent, Transphobia, and Death