Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

5 reviews

emilychristina's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, and War

kylarkylar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This was…not good. Fantastic idea for a book, the audiobook voice was amazing, and I did enjoy the ending.

But the rest of it was just listening to a super depressing story of controlling and abusive relationships. Not to mention not enough story developments to justify the love each character had for the main vampire, or why they stayed with him for so long. Like Constanza immediately wanting to sleep with him and fall in love with him???? Not explained at ALL.

I wanted an easy spooky book to read this October, but this was not it :/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

sweetrosegirl76's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

4.5 I actually really liked this!! I like how it was told in a letter, similar to how Dracula is told. I don't think it's about him though, due to the ending. I remember in Dracula there were three women, I thought this would be about the 3 of them, where they rewrite this to be his brides, which would have been cool since we don't know who they are. I loved the chaotically bisexual throuple/quad vibes and would so love to read a less toxic version. I don't read a lot of books with polycules, or closed multiple partner relationships, I did like that part but bc it's told as a letter there's only so much we can say I think. Regardless, I really enjoyed this book, it was short, easy to follow the audiobook, and would love a non toxic, non abusive version of a MMFF vampire couple lol makes me wanna keep decorating my gothic themed room bc this is def the vibes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, War, and Classism

molly_reads_bookss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Stalking, and Gaslighting

celestriakle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Read this book for prose alone. The language is poetic and beautiful and flows so nicely that it makes this a quick read; I finished the last two sections in one sitting. The intensity of the relationships each "wife" has to Dracula is gripping. It's fascinating to see how the dynamics slowly shift over the long timespans of the book, and how differently each character reacts to Dracula's abuse.

The main weakness of the book however is the characters relationships outside of Dracula. The book ends with

all 3 in a romantic relationship, and supposedly they fell in love this whole time, but they never have very much chemistry. They read far more like sister-wives trying to protect each other from Dracula than lovers with their own relationship outside him, with nothing to keep each other together once he's gone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Torture, Death of parent, and War

I tagged for incest, but it's not true incest: all four main characters are not related, but are frequently described with family terminology, despite being in a romantic relationship. Alexi and Constanta in particular are constantly described as mother/son, with Alexi's youth compared to everyone else frequently mentioned, but they still end up romantically entangled and share a sex scene.