Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling

20 reviews

bookcheshirecat's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

“She'll never understand. The realization washes all the fight out of me, leaving behind only heartache. I gently pull my wrist from her grip. "Because," I say, my voice so soft it's nearly swallowed up by the trees, "I'm standing here, telling you how much you hurt me, and you can't hear it." Tears fill my eyes. I've lost the strength to hide them. "You broke my heart, and you didn't even notice. How can I ..." My throat closes up, I look away. "How could I ever trust you to put the pieces back together?”

➽ These Witches Don't Burn is perfect if you love small-town Fantasy books and all things witchy! The story follows Hannah, an Elemental Witch who has to keep her identity hidden from normal humans like her best friend Gemma. I loved the magic system in this story, as there are different witch covens, from Casters to Elementals to Blood Witches. The latter have a bad reputation though and are seen as monsters. That's why Hannah is horrified that one of them might be running around in Salem! I really liked her friendship with Gemma and the blossoming romance with the new girl in town, Morgan. The story also explores the toxic relationship with her ex-girlfriend Veronica, who still hasn't understood how much she hurt Hannah and keeps trying to get back together with her. The bad guy was a bit predictable, but overall I loved the small-town and witchy vibes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Homophobia

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Loved this reading.  Magic and covens with sapphic riddled through out - including not only the MC’s first ex gf but also another budding potential love interest.  

Unexpected villians and betrayals left me shocked and I’m so glad I own the second as ill be reading it asap. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

solarel's review against another edition

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? No

3.0

I’ll give this one a flat 3 out of five enjoyment from me. Honestly the first half felt gimmicky and flat. It was a lot, and I mean a lot, of telling not showing. Often times repeatedly. 

But! The second half really picked up and once the pieces all fell into place the story actually took hold. The stakes increased with every mistake and Hannah’s reactions felt very real. I don’t cry for books often and twice I was tearing up. 

For a YA some of the silly teen-isms are to be expected. I’m glad I pushed through to read the second half. It was fun. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Biphobia, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Alcohol

rowanrelph's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

sofpopi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Hate crime, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

lucyselim's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

I really don't know how to feel about this book. On the one hand I love the representation and the story is pretty decent, if somewhat predictable, but I also just felt something lacking. However, I know I would have loved this book more when I was a teenager. To conclude, whilst realising I am not in the target audience, I am still a little disappointed with this book overall, but I love the casual gayness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Lesbophobia

lanidon's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This would've been four or five stars if I were younger, so definitely recommend this to teens. I've just grown out of YA entirely and that's not the fault of the book. This book is a lot more high octane than I expected which kept me hooked,. I love the amount of queer characters in this book. My main complaints are 1) it feels like a cw/freeform show 2) this book is almost entirely setting things up for the series. I don't think it stands well on its own and I won't be continuing on so...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia and Toxic relationship

lily_books's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Hate crime, and Medical content

katrinas14's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

Slow at the beginning, but DAMN does it pick up 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Blood, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Targeting of witches and killing them (hate crime maybe?) just know yourself and yeah, fire, breaking and entering

sydneyraereads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Hannah has just ended things with her first girlfriend, Veronica, and normally this wouldn't be such a problem...except they are part of the same witch coven, so they still have to see each other all the time. When weird things start happening around Salem, they have to move on with their lives while trying to protect the coven. 

What I didn't really like about this book was the heavy focus on romance. This could've been such an interesting story, but instead it read like an angsty teen romance. I personally, don't like romance stories, so I was hoping for more of the witch stuff. It was all secondary to Hannah and Veronica's issues. I really did not like Veronica and struggled to care at all about her--which is one of the main parts of the story.

What I liked about this book was the diverse type of queer characters (from different parts of the spectrum). I also enjoyed the growth and maturity that Hannah displayed in her strength of when to say no and when to trust herself. 

I look forward to reading the second one because the

Witch Hunter 'cure'

was the best plot point of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Gun violence and Grief