Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

26 reviews

paperbacksandsnacks's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a book that had been on my tbr forever. I don’t know why, but I just never gravitated towards it once I owned it. But I do wish I’d read it sooner.

I asked my husband to pick my next book for me and this is what he chose and I’m actually super glad he did. I really enjoyed it. 

This beauty and the beast fairytale retelling was just different enough to be engaging whilst still holding true to the classic. The modern day parallel universe vibe was fun for sure! I loved the characters and felt attached to all of them, but I think I was rooting for the wrong love interest (sorry not sorry). 

It had a nice level of representation for disabled people, and the LGBTQ community without being super obvious about it. It didn’t feel like a plot point or that is was there for the sake of meeting a diversity request. Just added to the story in a great and subtle way.

I am super intrigued to see where this series goes next. I have a lot of questions and I am invested so that’s a positive sign. I would say maybe slightly longer than it needed to be. Perhaps a bit of a frustrating ending too, but I do see the point of it as it’s building up to the next book. But maybe something to note. I also felt like this was mostly YA but then some moments felt a bit unnecessary for this particular series. Maybe that’s just me being super fussy. 

Overall, an enjoyable fairytale retelling and I am looking forward to the next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

cdoubet's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.5

9/10. I really enjoyed this book. Not gonna lie, the beginning was pretty confusing and I was worried that it was gonna stay that way. However, after only like 3 (short) chapters, it got really good. I love the alternating POV. My only slight critique of this book was that there was A LOT going on. There were multiple complicated plot points and a lot of side characters but overall, I think the author did a nice job of having a lot going on but only enough that it advanced the story in an organic way. Also, the romance was nice, though I wish the characters were aged up just a couple years (not in a weird way, 16/17/18 just seems really young to be for the maturity levels of these characters). I am always a sucker for the "he fell first" and "he fell harder" tropes. Also, as a disabled person, I appreciated how the fmc's disability was incorporated and acknowledged. Definitely recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror and Child death

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual harassment

qrschulte's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyable book, but I didn’t love it as a whole. And I CALLED IT!

Things I loved: 
- a protagonist with a disability who is affected by their disability but not defined by it. So refreshing that she was a fully realized person
- the Rhen narrator. Honestly, the book might have been better with just him narrating the whole thing. 
- believable reasoning for why someone from our world could ride a fucking horse

Things I did not love: 
- How whiny the Harper narrator made her sound sometimes. It made it a lot less believable it was the same character between the narrators. 
- The monster narration (so fucking creepy/scary). Could have done without that. 
- The parts where it was said Harper was “not like other girls” *cue vomiting*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, and Infidelity

katievallin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, and Abandonment

annorabrady's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Ableism

mo_books_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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 love the fantasy element and how it's a dual pov and with the female lead you truly feel that she is a fish out of water in the fantasy world. Also she has cerebral palsy which gives her a limp but she never lets it define/ makes her whole personality but it is there and she works around it and is still a complete lovable badass.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

thatbookbitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Self harm, Blood, Vomit, and Alcohol

hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail