Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

31 reviews

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I can’t believe I waited this long to read this book, but it was the perfect book to transition from Sapphic September into the depths of spooky season! DAMN this was a great read! I was absolutely hooked from the very first page to the last. The chapters are longer than I normally like but the pace is so quick and gripping that I didn’t even notice as I was reading. The twists in this one are TWISTY! I thought I had it all figured out early on but that wasn’t even the half of it. I loved this! I’m not much of a fantasy girlie so I don’t think Bayron’s other books are for me, but I hope she writes more horror because she nailed this!

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual content

somelesbianwriter's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

 I'm a big fan of Kalynn Bayron's other books, but this one fell a little flat for me. I thought elements of the story were effective, and I actually enjoyed the ending

for the way it subverted the 'Bury Your Gays' trope by having Bezi kill the killer to bring Charity back.

I'm also always here for diverse books, across all genres! But overall, I struggled to enjoy a lot of this.

The first half was a little slow, but generally very solid - the suspense, the groundwork being laid. The second half I enjoyed a lot less. I didn't really feel the emotions of the characters or feel particularly attached to them, even during what should've been visceral moments, and I thought they took a lot of illogical courses of action (especially as they kept touting the fact that they knew about horror movie tropes and wanted to avoid them). I also thought there were a lot of times they behaved strangely -

like Charity sitting down for tea in the house without seeming afraid for Kyle, even though as far as she knew, he was missing with a killer on the loose

. The whole 'owl' thing felt a little random and hard to take seriously, too. 

Still, this had some good elements of suspense, some cool characters, a diverse cast, and

turned the Bury Your Gays trope around

, so it's far from all bad. And generally I think the author is great! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment

ravenpuff's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Abandonment

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

The whole time, I wondered if this was a feeble attempt at rewriting the origin story for DC Comics’ Court of the Owls. One word for this book: lame. Only reason I finished the book was that it was short.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

easefcik's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This is not my usual genre, but I love the author. This was well written and kept me guessing…only points off for

all the gory deaths…and I know that’s the point of the genre and I loved the ending, but I still struggle with the content so don’t feel like I can give it 5 stars 🤣

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

zombiezami's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

I feel like the magic being introduced in the last third wasn't executed well

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, and Vomit

bookb1itch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i read this to check its suitability for the 12 yo readers who "want horror". (Short answer - no). BUT I loved it and was completely hooked.  As someone who only came to horror in my 50s, I am fairly unaware of the tropes employed by slasher films, referenced in this book.  So much fun, with a really great twist at the end.  The supernatural element was great too.  Can't wait to put this in the hands of the right 15yo.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing

suzylit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I’m not really familiar with the slasher sub-genre but damn that was good! I really enjoyed the whole concept of the terror simulation. At first I was just expecting a random killer appearing from nowhere but I loved how the story eventually unfolded! 
The last pages really had me on the edge of my seat.

So many plot twists I couldn’t process 😱😱

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

automatic_rae's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

So much fun! Like my own personal slasher movie was playing in my mind!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abandonment