Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

A Dreadful Splendor by B.R. Myers

12 reviews

lemonsaurus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury

prettiestwhistles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Incest, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, and Dementia

Several characters are described as "mad," including one encountered directly in the narrative. While her condition is never specified, she experiences auditory hallucinations and is killed while trying to murder the protagonist. The narrator attributes the violence to her illness.

mary_trot's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Mental illness

aturb92's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

Even though I correctly guessed every revelation to this mystery, I still really enjoyed it!  The characterization was nice, the story moved along at a good clip, our heroine was smart and independent, but it didn't feel cliche.  I think people probably could have figured out the mystery for themselves a bit sooner.  Spoiler about the villainous plan:

Did they really think no one would recognize her when they came back?  I don't think they thought things through very well./

. Also, I have some quibbles about the way the author wrote inheritance and entailment issues.  There were a couple times where I thought, "I don't think that is right?"  They took me out of the story momentarily, but I was able to move past them to enjoy the story.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

bessadams's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Mental illness and Miscarriage

katieconrad's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death and Incest

wrensreadingroom's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

samandthebookstack's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

London in the 1850s is not a kind place for a young woman with no one to rely on but herself.

Genevieve Timmons is a spiritualist, but not an authentic one. While her moral compass doesn't exactly point due north, she uses the skills her mother taught her to conduct seances that bring peace to the living and line her pockets just enough so that she can get by, all she needs is this one last job and she'll be on a train out of London for good.

But when her last job goes horribly wrong, Genevieve finds herself in jail awaiting the gallows and has no choice but to accept an offer to conduct another seance in an effort to soothe the sorrows of one Mr.Pemberton, master of Pemberton Park, an estate near the sea.

But all is not what it seems and a mystery is afoot. Mr.Pemberton's betrothed is believed to have committed suicide and everyone at Pemberton Park believes the estate is haunted and its family cursed. Genevieve will have to sift through the lives of everyone there to determine the truth and conduct a seance believable enough to root out a murderer-her life depends on it.

Trigger warnings: suicide, death of a parent, mental illness, miscarriage, sexism, incest, pregnancy

I really enjoyed this one. The mystery itself had enough twists and turns that I didn't immediately guess what I suspected might happen, although I knew early on which characters were not trustworthy. The romance wasn't overbearing to the overall plot and the story does give us a very satisfying HEA. All in all, it was an enjoyable read. If you're looking for a light read with morally gray characters, gothic romance (light on the romance), and a murder mystery with paranormal themes then you'll probably enjoy this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexism

Minor: Incest and Police brutality

erinoco's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Incest, Sexism, Vomit, and Police brutality