Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling

12 reviews

annorabrady's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

This book went in many different directions. I almost DNF'd at the beginning then the story started to pick up. And I got into it until I got blindsided by

the parental death. As someone who unexpectedly lost their mom in the last year, that definitely threw me back into the trauma

. 

Overall, I'm not sure how I feel about the story. I gave it a 3 because it was entertaining enough. But this isn't one I am going to revisit. 

If you have emotional triggers, be aware and proceed with caution. This hits on a lot of things that could get people. I've done my best to list the ones I can remember. 

As an aside, this book is not diverse. Beyond the romance and the ex, there's one closeted character who gets little page time and one gay character who gets an even smaller part. Then there's nothing. Everyone is white. If there aren't white characters, they're not described. In real life, Salem has close to 18% of their population identifying as latine and nearly 4% as black. Surely there could have been a friend, family member, or other recurring character who wasn't white. 

After giving myself time to think about it, I genuinely don't understand the purpose of killing off her father beyond shock value. It didn't add anything to the story. She learned nothing new – he died while trying to give her a clue but didn't actually say anything – and her actions didn't change.

It also would have made more sense narratively if he hasn't died, especially in terms of Victoria being left alone after getting her magic back. 

Hannah would have saved Victoria regardless of her father's death. She was just as invested in the identity of the witch hunter before and after his death. And his death didn't add to any of her struggles or character development. He just died. And then he had a funeral. And she said she was upset about it.

Losing a parent changes you. Especially if it's a parent you have a good relationship with. It fundamentally changes so much of your life, your beliefs, and your priorities. And I saw none of that reflected in what Hannah did at the end of the book. Hannah was still the same character, she was just down a parent.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

unicornofthesea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

agnela's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

katattack345's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

It was fine. I thought it was an easy but fun read. Just a tad predictable for my taste. It is YA and I am no longer that so it could be why. 

 I probably won’t continue the series but it was a nice read. I would recommend it to the youths though

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol

wishbea's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

The characters weren't very compelling, the magic was interesting and story was okay but Veronica is abusive, manipulative and hypocritical and I hated reading about her, and because Hannah isn't over her ex, she spends a lot of time thinking about Veronica.

Many of the characters are stupid, including Hannah herself and every single responsible adult character that just let Hannah and Veronica wander about and do whatever they want despite the danger to their lives. Gemma's dialogue in particular got worse as the book went on, becoming extremely generic, Morgan was fine but it felt like she was just there to make the point of not all insert group of people only portrayed as being terrible up to this point are bad.

I will happily praise how this book deals with a teenager grieving though, it felt realistic, you can tell how raw Hannah is at that point and her actions are driven by those feelings.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Biphobia, Cursing, and Stalking

kaykaysbookshelf's review against another edition

4.5

What to expect: Salem setting, queer teens, witches vs. witch hunters, working with your ex

This book was awesome! Loved the different types of witches and how gay it was. 

Spice: 1, YA book

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, and Blood

sarahsbookss's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

malupastafrola's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Sexual content, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Lesbophobia

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. 

---

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

moonstruck_next_friday's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

A good mix of spooky themes and lesbian fluff. It’s so much fun to hate Veronica and root for Morgan. There’s a couple good twists at the end too. Even though “These Witches Don’t Burn” came out before the prequel “This Spell Can’t Last”, I highly recommend reading the prequel first it’ll give great context for the characters actions and decision making. Can’t wait to read the sequel!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting