Reviews tagging Toxic relationship

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites, by Joy Demorra

4 reviews

cgn's review against another edition

4.5

This book was so delightful. It was just like a warm hug with a hint of intrigue (though mind the trigger warnings)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Medical content, Racism, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Toxic relationship, and War

Minor: Alcoholism

jayceehoskins's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

3.75

Another hefty novel, I motored through Hunger Pangs just revelling in the sweetness of queer supernatural men falling in love with hardly a hiccup to their romance. I lost momentum three quarters of the way through, partly just my own reading slump, and partly because it was an uneventful period between the romantic climax and the end of the book. I picked it up again two months later and devoured the ending, hardly able to believe it was over.

Not only does Hunger Pangs give us a healthy queer m/m romance, it also delves deep into disability and chronic pain—dying from it, living with it, how society treats you when you have it. Since I follow Joy Demorra on Tumblr, I know this is her personal experience shining through. Her refusal to compromise on her disability representation in this novel—to water it down or shove it into a back seat for marketability—enriches the story and Nathan as a character, and I'm grateful for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use

hauntedtesty's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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

2.5

Hard one to review. I felt the pacing was very uneven, with the first half being very focused on a character romance and then suddenly the last third remembering it had to introduce Ursula and being all doom and world ending. Which was very abruptly solved... There are a lot of characters in the first half who are promptly dropped, due to a switch in genre focus.
I can see where some plot threads will be pulled into the second book, but definitely needed some more pruning. The main duo are fun to read.
Have read that was is an episodic release on patreon, so that might be where the book format falls over. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Racial slurs, Biphobia, and Medical trauma

jade_newcastle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

This is my go-to comfort book right now! The romance is charming and healthy, the disability representation makes me feel seen, and the worldbuilding is intriguing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Chronic illness, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Minor: Ableism, Biphobia, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Suicide, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Infertility