Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

12 reviews

ladycranstonkc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

aparker89's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

amandareads70's review against another edition

dark mysterious

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Grief, and Murder

mtehan7's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I loved the beginning of this book and how much mystery there was, it was truly hard to put down. But I feel like it faltered in the end, it felt rushed and mildly cheesy.. for as much time was spent enhancing the mystery, I feel the ending could have been more drawn out, and more satisfying. Overall though, it was a unique story, and a fun supernatural experience. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

nika_nix's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

I expected so much more from this one. I was bored throughout most of the story and I feel like the balance between the two timelines was off, I didn't get invested in any of the storylines because of the way they were spaced out throughout the book. I also feel like the author tried to do way too many thing and I was expecting some mind blowing twist at the end but the ending turned out to be very underwhelming and basic, nothing really exciting or fun. Unfortunately, my least favorite Jennifer McMahon book I've read so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

michaelat21's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The ending of this book sucked. I loved the book and was on the edge of my seat and then it just kinda ended in the most meh way and fell flat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail

jjjreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

A harrowing tale with many twists and turns, which keeps you interested and guessing. I was glued to the story up until the last third. I wasn't thrilled with the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Gore, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

katsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

“If snow melts down to water, does it still remember being snow?”

“Madness is always a wonderful excuse, don’t you think? For doing terrible things to other people.”

“How can you dream if you don’t have a soul?”

This was a fun, spooky read. I've had this book on my shelf for literal years but definitely never realized it was a horror. I'm so glad I finally read it, though. I would not call myself a horror reader and this feels like a solid book for those just kind of getting into the horror genre. It was creepy and suspenseful without being overly gross or too "out there." I liked the multiple perspectives. It was easy to tell the difference between each POV and I was equally interested in all of the different characters we were following. I enjoyed the creepy feeling that the book gave me. I read a big chunk of this novel late in the evening and freaked myself out when I had to turn out the lights for bed time. I always find that to be a good sign in terms of general atmosphere. 

I'll try to not be too spoilery with the things I didn't like it but please read ahead with your own risk, especially if you're thinking of reading this book in the near future. My major gripe was that the only BIPOC character ended up being essentially a villain. She was very much the mystical Indian that only serves to further the character development of a white character. My other major question had to do with the teenaged character and how she came to live with her adoptive parents. The whole situation seemed like a major plot hole and didn't make sense to me. Personally, if I had been her aunt in the situation, I would not have let her adoptive parents take her given the traumatic events that led to her adoption. 

Overall, this was a solid mystery horror. It was fun and gave me creepy vibes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

loandbeholdx's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Animal death and Gun violence

Minor: Child death, Mental illness, and Death of parent