Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke

4 reviews

cnannery19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

chrisscorkscrew's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

camelia_martin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.0

Finished this book in around 8 hours! It was gripping for a while, then it started becoming a bit boring like the plot building was taking too long.. then suddenly - bang, a revelation to keep you hooked

I really thought Mabel was a ghost until finding out she’s alive in the shed!

Those little revelations really kept the intrigue, and the way the seemingly unlinked characters and their lives became interlinked was incredible. 
I had a gut feeling about how Mabel was pregnant and despite turning out to be correct I was still shocked by the way it was revealed. 
I feel like Wulfie’s storyline was a bit rushed at the end - I really wanted to feel more for his character. The hints

like him slipping up and calling his “grandad” dad a few times

were great foreshadowing. 

I will say I didn’t find it scary, though I don’t find horror/thriller or gothic horror books to be scary anyway, but I did find myself reading faster and faster as I hit the last 100 pages. 

Mrs W’s situation was predictable

they mentioned the cordyceps taking over a host body so many times throughout the book, and her few sudden flips in behaviour couldn’t have been due to a personality disorder, so her being taken over by the curse woman was obvious

Overall though an enjoyable book that kept me wanting more! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

_bookbug's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

The rating for this book is indeed a bit tricky to me. 
I enjoyed the storyline and after reading the author's note I understood the plots intentions even more. I liked that it had lesbian representation and a lot of sapphic characters. And the ghothic atmosphere, yes!! 
However, what destroyed the reading experience a little for me was the writing. I was really surprised because I've read The Lighthouse Witches and in that book the writing was really good. But in this one it seemed rather loveless, tbh. It's not that I dislike reading first-person-perspective in general but I think a third-person-perspective would suit this book and plot a lot more. 

But all in all it was an enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail