Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Bad Fruit by Ella King

9 reviews

clarxvizconde13's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• 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: Sexual violence, Violence, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Murder

I think the book has depth - after reading it, the title "Bad Fruit" has so many meanings.

scifi_rat's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Plot: 4.25★
Prose: 4.75★
Pace: 4.5★
Concept/Execution: 4.5★/5★
Characters: 4.5★
Worldbuilding: 3.75★
Ending: 4.25★

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Self harm, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Murder, Violence, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Stalking, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Death of parent, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcoholism

alpal_collective's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Self harm

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Eating disorder, Murder, Dysphoria, and Car accident

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

emmanoellovato's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

Okay this is objectively a five star book, but I also wish that I could forget I read it. Just so captivating, but also incredibly disturbing. I don’t feel great after reading it, but I also couldn’t put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Incest, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Car accident

l_lilly_05's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, and Rape

bookmaddie'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This was a great book to buddy read with Suzy. We both were kind of bored with it in the beginning but encouraged each other to keep going, and thank god we did, because we both ended up liking it! However, before I go any further, it must be acknowledged that this book addresses many intense, triggering topics, including child abuse, domestic abuse, self harm, sexual violence and violence.

What begins as a mysterious premise quickly turns into a story of shocking cruelty and unexpected friendship. We follow Lily, on the verge of independence, who suddenly starts experiencing bizarre hallucinations. As the story winds on, Lily uncovers a dark secret that upends her understanding of her family, and has to figure out how to live in this changed world. King explores generational trauma—how stories can be transferred from one person to another, and how that may provide understanding for a person's actions, never absolves them from the consequences of what they've done.

Luckily, Lily gets help from a newfound friend, and I thought this relationship was written with such care and love. I cried twice while reading, and both times were when Lily received the understanding, love, and care from her friend that no one had ever shown her before. This friendship reminds me that there are people out there who are willing to help when you're in a bad situation, which can seem shocking as we live in a rather isolated world where people tend to remain ensconced in their own social circles. King's writing just felt so healing and beautiful to read. The mush in me loved it.

This is an intense, tender, and visceral story unlike anything I've read in awhile. If you think you can handle the content, then I would highly recommend. Thank you Astra House Books for the finished copy! She's gorg.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Self harm

aigreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Incest, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Infidelity

Minor: Car accident

blundershelf's review

3.75

wow okay that scared the shit out of me and made me cry

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Child abuse

sophiareads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense

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

5.0

 Content Warnings: parental abuse, domestic abuse, self harm, slut shaming/victim blaming, sexual abuse, rape (mentioned) 

 

This novel is an exploration of trauma and as such deals with a lot of very heavy subjects. Please take all the content warnings into serious consideration if you need to. 

 

Lily has spent her life striving to appease her emotionally volatile mother. Though Lily is on the brink of gaining independence when she moves to Oxford for university, her relationship with her mother grows even more complex and strained when Lily begins to get flashbacks which are not her own, but are snippets of her mother's traumatic past. 

 

Wow. It's been a while since a novel has left me so emotionally floored. 'Loved' doesn't feel like the correct term, because this is such a heavy book, but I am incredibly impressed by it, and I certainly don't think I'll forget this one any time soon. Aside from a very engaging writing style, the story is easy to get drawn into, as the reader spends the narrative unravelling the stories of Lily and her mother. The depiction of inherited trauma and cycles of abuse is at times tough to read, but ultimately very well done, and handled with a lot of kindness. The novel's exploration of the complexity of relationships and different facets of people is also excellent. This was quite a difficult book to assign a star rating to for me, but the success of balancing the emotional gut punch it gave with clear tones of sympathy, love, and hope made this a five star read. 

 

Thank you to NetGalley, Ella King, and HarperFiction for the ARC of Bad Fruit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Self harm

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence