Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Gothikana by RuNyx

10 reviews

haleydeppert's review against another edition

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

2.0

Talk about plot holes! 🕳️ Dude, this book has so many unanswered questions. Who was kidnapping the students for years after the Slayers were gone? Why were they going missing? Because “Jade” said she didn’t do it… In the bonus scene from the Black Ball at the end of the book, why did Vad find more skeletal remains and then just say eh, not my problem…??? I am so confused and have so many questions. That was the least satisfying ending to a book like ever. Not to mention, it got so extremely cringy that I could barely stand it. The castle and the mountain thing they said to each other… CRINGE. The nicknames of “my devil,” “my little witch,” and “my madness…” WATTPAD-ESQUE. Then, they told each other they loved each other in the weirdest way and then barely spoke of it after. Corvina was described as a basic little outcast “goth/emo” kid. Also, the college age students acted like high schoolers. Not to mention, the main female character being a “virgin” and having her professor take it from her. What is with society’s obsession with virgins??? I don’t know but I’m not understanding the hype around this book. This book was just words slapped onto paper as the author thought of them. Too bad the author didn’t also think to put words onto the paper describing all of the unanswered questions from the plot. It wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, but it certainly wasn’t good. 

Spice rating: 2.5/5 🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Drug use and Vomit

jade_nocturne's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

caffinatedslug's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Dementia

marinajonesreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

2.0

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Incest, Blood, and Death of parent

klpage's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Unfortunately the spice in this book took over from the plot. Which I didn’t like to read about constantly. 

I loved the aesthetic of the book, and the last 50 pages of interesting plot, but that was it unfortunately. 

Not for me I’m afraid! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

hobbit_at_heart's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

 

I really enjoyed this story! However, I will say I do not see any correlation between this story and comparing it to "dracula and beauty and the beast" aside from a girl falling for a "devil" in a castle.

The whole time I thought Vad Deverel was going to end up being a vampire or something and that never happened. So that was a touch disappointing. The smut could have been a touch better, but I won't complain.

I suck at reviews, but all-in-all, a good story. Definitely New Adult vibes. At first I was under the impression that this was set in an older timeline, however it was fairly modern with random things like the use of phones and internet was stuck in. Some of the writing was kind of cringy and I sped read through a LOT of fluffy bits that simply weren't all that necessary to have even been put into writing. Overall, good book. If Goodreads would do a 1/2 star system, this would be a solid 3.5 for me but I rounded up for the sake of having enjoyed the plot twist at the end bc I never would have seen it coming. Wild ride at the end!

HEA was corny as SHIT.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, and Stalking

Minor: Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

paperkindle's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Where I loved The predator and The reaper this one didn't strike home to me. Corvina first felt like a teenager and not like a 20-year-something girl.  The sex scenes were so cringe and the mystery lacked a bit at the end. 
SPOILERS REGARDING THE END: Why was Vad so long in those tunnels and what was in the river that dragged Corvina and Ajax almost down?

My reading experience makes it difficult to rate because I don't know if it feels more like two or three stars. So for the moment, I'm going with two.

TW: schizophrenia, dementia, death of parent, drugs, suicide, missing people, murder, student/teacher relationship (age gap)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Dementia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

krystlethegreat's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

So many things....
1. This book reads YA, until it doesn't. 🫣
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
2. The repetition of describing the same things, in exactly the same way, a couple of pages later, really pulled me out of the story. This was both entire paragraphs and just repeating the same specific adjective/phrase closely together. 
3. Some sentences just didn't make sense. Or they did make sense after you reread them multiple times, but that's just not how a proper sentence is structured. 

We never find out all of the mysteries. Like big-ish things that are a constant in the storyline or an event that we never get closure on. In the author's opening letter to the reader and in the author's note at the end, this is identified as intentional. It's really just annoying. The author personally identifies with lack of answers, however writing your own story gives you the chance to create answers! 

Overall, I was looking for a gothic, dark academia romance... and what I got was a poorly edited story that didn't know it's audience or what actually happened inside of itself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Drug use and Rape

hitheremynameislisa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Dementia

nose_in_a_book's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

🌶️🌶️

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, and Murder