Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Gothikana

I got through it. Solid 2. The writing was at time pedantic and the plot lacked a lot of substance. I think we I saw “gothic romance” I was thinking along the lines of Adalyn Grace’s “Foxglove” — a slow burn, out of time, dark romance. This was dark. I will give it that. I would strongly advise one check the content warnings before reading. But the ending just lacked so much. It kind of was just there. I felt like we’d been building to something supernatural or even just unexpected. But we instead get a Scooby Do-esq storyline. And I was still left with so many questions. And not in a fun way. This felt, at times, like one big spicy book with words around it in the vague wispy form of a plot. Ironic, I know. Would I recommend? Probably not.

But I will say, the cover, binding and sprayed purple edges are beautiful. The purple and black is such a solid choice. Love the Verenmore gold foil.

Content Warnings

btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

3.0

The mystery in this book kept me interested, but the twist wasn't for me. One part surprised me, but the other part seemed reductive and trite.

As a whole, didn't love the romance, but that's because it's very lusty and not much "get to know you" happened. The demi in me just couldn't get on board with it all. The sexy parts seemed unrealistic at times too, but that's a whole other conversation. Also, I felt like there were just a lot of questions I never got answers to, and while the characters might've been fine with it, I wanted to know as it felt like a huge part of the mystery of it all.

In the end, I was interested throughout, but a lot of it was just a miss for me as things came to light. Great for gothic girlies who love when the LI calls the MC a "good girl" and enjoys a little bit of a psychological/paranormal thriller. I am not that type of girly.

Rep: Parent with schizophrenia and dementia

TW: blood, suicide, murder, death, torture, fire, sexual content, kidnapping; mentions abandonment, death of a parent, bullying

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adevilsmind's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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amelierawr's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

1.0

I seriously don't know why the rating is so good, it was worse than bad- it's straight up horrible.
unhealthy dynamic, teacher-student relationship, terrible description of mental illness and let's not forget the rape downplayed as "it's always painful when you lose your virginity".
cannot wrap my head around how the ML stayed as a teacher even though rumors of him sleeping with students went around...like, what? how did he not get fired? no legal actions, nothing.

only good thing about the book is the actually not that bad of an idea the teacher-student relationship. both of them are adults, she is doing her graduation and he is doing his PhD while also teaching at the school. Still, there is an unhealthy power dynamic, which is problematic. Based on that premise itself, it could've been a really good *actual* "dark romance".

and ofc i have to consider the bad writing for my rating, bc eh

(didn't drop bc i was nearly finished anyway)

all in all,
1/10 - even Ben Shapiros trashy fascist novel was a better read

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alexandryareads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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bookspace's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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