Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

22 reviews

lady_grey_with_honey's review against another edition

dark sad 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? No

5.0

This horror story is narrated by a young man who is reflecting back on many strange occurrences from his childhood. In each of the six chapters, he lays out some significant experience, based on what he remembers, starting in kindergarten and progressing through his teen years. These glimpses into his coming-of-age begin innocently - with a school project or an activity with a friend - and slowly ramp up to something terrifying, but inexplicable. He eventually enlists the help of his mother to piece it all together - the truth of what was really happening all those years is devastating. This story was originally released in sections on the r/nosleep forum on Reddit and adapted for The NoSleep Podcast. Fans loved it so much that the author launched an extremely successful Kickstarter to self-publish it as a novel in 2012. I loved it too and stayed up too late some nights because I couldn't put it down. The only reason that I didn't give this a full 5 stars was because the very end of the book became a bit confusing in a few ways. I finished in astonishment and then spent an hour on Reddit threads reading long discussions about the ending in order to make sure I wasn't missing something.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, and Grief

lugosi147's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is deeply deeply scary and tense at times and so deeply deeply tragic in others.  The author has a knack for crafting horror and pathos into an incredibly paced narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

one boy’s friendship damns his friend’s entire family

dexlud's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Okay I’m giving this a 5 star just because of how purely amazed I am at how much this book purely terrified me. Auerbach definitely has a way with words. Even if the writing itself was just above basic, the way my emotions were toyed with throughout this book was actually insane. I wish I could read this book for the first time because what the fuck. Started reading at 3am, both recommend and do not recommend reading this at such an hour. Definitely recommend this book, has a little bit of body horror too at points and overall is just a gorgeous book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body horror and Gore

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

nalakoala's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Grief

crashiebang's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.75

This haunts me more than any other book I've ever read. I found it life-alteringly horrifying. A masterpiece that I cannot actually recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

laneychaney's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

So disappointing. Some parts were creepy but nothing scary. The writing was simple and easy to get through. I liked the idea of different memories/stories that tie together…but the end was so bad and rushed and made no sense. It was almost silly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

b0gd0g's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Stalking, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping

smileysam's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed this book and tore through it in one sitting. I find it rare that I read something that makes me feel genuinely uneasy and this book conveyed that very well. The first chapter felt like a nightmare that the reader alongside the narrator couldn’t wake up from. There were many instances that gave me that stomach-dropping feeling (the Boxes chapter especially). I know some people complain that not every question is answered, but to me, that almost adds to the narrative and way the story is told throughout the book. I found that the themes of this book felt, unfortunately, very grounded in reality. This felt like a story that could happen, which made it all the more terrifying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Car accident

Moderate: Animal death and Pedophilia

Minor: Animal cruelty

jully_bean's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

One of my all-time favorite books. It’s a masterpiece. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, and Stalking

thatsmolelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

Wow. 
It’s all I can say. This book, I couldn’t put it down. This gave me the creeps. How the author was able to write this book was super impressive. To time jump with no effort to truly bring in the suspense and make this huge jaw dropping ending is truly impressive. 
*Spoilers

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To hear your cats cries over a walkie talkie that you had to leave behind at your old house is terrifying. 
To see your love interest all contorted after being hit by a car, disturbing, BUT to get a text saying “I love You” after she died?!? 🤮🤮 ewwww. Ewwwwwwwww. 

Truly thought we were going into spooky paranormal things at the beginning. To be fair, I’ve been watching waaaay too many ghost hunting things so when I see “how the fuck did I end up here” I’m like yOuVe bEeN pOsEsSeD. 
When the teacher brought up the penpal thing, I was like “oh god no” We all know that the pedophile thing is getting worse by the day and nothing is more icky than a grown adult romantically loving a CHILD. 

Anywho, I loved this. It truly gave you the ick, the chills, the “on the edge of your seat” feeling. I’m definitely rating this a good 4.8.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Stalking