Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew

10 reviews

kristakp's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Immediately enthralled by the tense, gothic atmosphere of the book. Was the plot loose? Yeah, definitely. But the vibes were there. I basically didn't put this book down once I started reading. I did cry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

main character death

amacmanus's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

onthesamepage's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.0

 Dully, she wondered if this was what heartbreak felt like—looking into the eyes of someone she’d spent her whole life memorizing and finding nothing recognizable left over in their depths. 

I really enjoyed this book while I was reading it, but I held off on reviewing, and most of what I remember now is the vibes. It sits in that creepy, unsettling horror space that I tend to prefer, especially when you add a couple of messy relationships to the mix. Those form the core and driver of this story, creepy monster in the woods notwithstanding. 

The writing was beautiful, even though it leaned purple a bit too often (not enough to be bothersome, but I did notice that it dragged a bit at the beginning, especially). There were just enough hints dropped that I was able to guess at some of the reveals, but definitely not all of them. I loved the ending in particular.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Murder

saucy_bookdragon's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

It's giving early draft with how underdeveloped every aspect felt and the heavy amount of telling instead of showing. The premise was intriguing as it's lowkey a fucked up remix of Peter Pan, but is lost in execution.

Also, I felt the use of Wicca was just cliche and leaned into stereotypes that pagan religions are demonic/evil. Not saying that's what the author was intending, rather that's how I read it. With that said, I am not very familiar with Wicca nor the author and so do not know how accurately it was portrayed, so take it with a grain of salt and correct me if I'm wrong. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

modernmatilda's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

cjdbooks1's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent

lizgriffinwords's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Beautifully written, with prose I want to lay down and soak in. Characters that clutched my heart in their fists. Terror and love in a perfectly orchestrated collision of romance-horror.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, and Gore

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

bsquiggle's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death of parent

roseleebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I'm very glad I picked this up as it surprised me in a good way. I knew it was going to be at least partly a horror and the writing and integration of that part of the story is outstanding. The tension really builds for the first portion of the book when Wyatt is trying to fix the farm that is falling apart around her. I won't give away the plot by talking too much about the other characters, but will say that the interpersonal dynamics and flashbacks are handled very well in building the story.

I did think that some of the plot elements felt a little rushed at the end, however thinking more about it after finishing the book I appreciated the direction it went in.

Overall this was the horror with heart at it's center that I didn't know I wanted to read. It is a story of loss, love, and hope with all the supernatural horror that I could ask for. There are no easy solutions in the world Kelly Andrew has created and I am glad that the story embraces that element.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scholastic books for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to publication.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

This is a horror novel with some romantic elements, I would not characterize this as a romance centric book.

eenicem's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.5

This book is really fantastic! I’m so happy I read it during spooky season and only wish I could give it to people to read now instead of having to wait until it hits shelves in April 2024. Kelly Andrew hits the perfect mood of eerie and mysterious throughout the book and definitely keeps you turning the pages. The stakes are high from page 1, and though there’s a brief lull about 70% of the way through, things pick up again pretty quickly. 

Wyatt and Peter/Petyr are both really compelling as characters and really make you want to root for them. Even when things are really tense between them or their circumstances are really fraught, their dynamic feels very realistic and natural instead of forced for the plot. 

And the plot as it unfolds is really exciting and keeps the revelations coming. I’d definitely recommend this book to anybody who enjoys supernatural YA with high stakes and characters who’ve seen some shit and will definitely see more before the book is through. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s worth it.


(ARC received through my job as a bookseller)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship