Reviews tagging 'Blood'

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

128 reviews

noodlesny's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Cursing

There's an unorthodox minor/adult relationship. It's not the standard type of disturbing of, say, a 30 yr old 'dating' a 16 yr old. It's a similar theme that comes up in certain anime at times, if you're familiar with those. It wasn't enough to make me stop reading but I was definitely uncomfortable with it and kept thinking about it throughout the reading.

So there was a 16 year old and a hundreds of years old immortal being that's in a teenaged body. This felt icky to me bc even though they did present and interact with the minor as a fellow teenager, they had the literal mind of a multi century old adult. They even mentioned them dating a present character's dead grandparent in the past. It's just weird.

bookrecsplease's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The plot is really slow moving, and a lot of it had that common YA trope of people being pointlessly mysterious to the protagonist instead of explaining all the things that they know. The last 20% was really great, but I wish the rest of the book had been paced similarly. 

I loved the setup of Briseis’ relationship with her moms, but it never changed throughout the book. Neither did Briseis, unfortunately. She made one character trait decision at after the inciting incident that was a positive change for her, and then never evolved at all again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Murder

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

frawst_disasta_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I couldn’t put down this book.  I kept needing to know what happened next and it didn’t disappoint!  I also loved the LGBTQ+ representation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Emotional abuse

mayachuchu13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Everything was great. Love the story, romance, plot twists. All of it was well thought-out and the MC is so likable, I was rooting for her since chapter one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Gun violence

Only two confusing things (#2 is a spoiler): 1. If Bri literally has magic powers it’s kinda stupid how she has this “there’s no such thing as magic!” attitude every time she learns something new. You literally grew up with magic powers, why are you so doubtful of witches and spells??

2. At the end when Hecate save Bri, why couldn’t she have come before the mom died??? What triggers Hecate and why was that trigger so late??? I hope it’s answered in book 2 T-T

dorywithana's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Amazing book with GREAT Representation! If you are a mythology fan this book is a must read! A great book, I consumed it fast to see if my suspicion about the mystery was right! I NEED to get my hands on the rest of the series ASAP to see what happens next!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

matmatmatty's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

4.0

Loved this book! It has a real air of mystery about it and I found myself constantly reading because I wanted to put all the pieces together. Towards the end, I could not put it down! Cannot wait for the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

blewballoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

4 for the first half and more like 3 for the second half.
I had more fun at the beginning of this book than towards the end. Things got a little too goofy and the characters made some questionable choices as the story went on. I do think it's clear the author had a blast writing this and throwing in everything they wanted to, and I'm happy for them. I like media where I can tell the creators had a good time. If you've also read You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by this author, it might help you figure out one of the twists in this book. That was the case for me. I didn't love the twist there, and I liked it less here.

I think that's because I'm more of a "power of friendship" type person who likes to see platonic relationships shine.

I also didn't really like the love interest, Marie. Apart from being really pretty and nice to Briseis, she's kind of rude to everyone else and I didn't get a sense of her personality besides that. There's a scene with poison ivy that is completely implausible and inaccurate to how poison ivy works, which took me out for a bit and I had to complain about it to my boyfriend. For positives: I loved the two completely supportive and loving moms, they bring a lot of comedic relief to the story as well. I liked the plant magic and descriptions. I liked exploring a big old house with lots of secrets. There's a lot of fun stuff here, for sure. The writing is not bogged down by overly detailed descriptions or internal thoughts, so it reads quickly. This is definitely YA due to the age of the main character, but very readable and engaging for me as an adult reader as well. I did not realize this was a duology, I think it kind of works as a standalone even with the somewhat cliffhanger/open ending. I am not sure if I will read the 2nd book or not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism

mel_muses's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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

3.5

This was super fun and I absolutely loved the world the author built. As I was reading (listening to the audiobook) the vines moved, the flowers bloomed, and everything came to life. It managed to be sweet and full of love - even amid the intrigue and gruesomeness at the end.

My one gripe is that towards the end the writing felt a bit cheap, or at least forced, with an over-reliance on the villain archetype.

I don't think I connected with Briseis completely, but I clearly see how her story could and does mean so, so much to queer Black girls. Briseis as a character and her moms as her family was the perfect backdrop for a story so full of heart, as This Poison Heart is. 

I can't wait to read This Wicked Fate and see where the rest of this story goes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Grief

weirdassfanta's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

Such a wonderful book that dives into mythology and plants. As someone who works with Hecate, I enjoyed seeing her shown in this book. Can’t wait to read the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Murder