Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand

6 reviews

jen_sten's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

My first Claire Legrand book. It was a good read, quite different. Very solid world building and light on the romance. The main character deals with panic attacks and self-harm - very interesting to see mental health be a major theme in a fantasy novel but it was done well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Vomit

bookishbitch_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

luckylulureads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

So this book is definitely not perfect, but I LOVED it nonetheless. I may be in the minority here, but I thought Furyborn was just okay, while this had me HOOKED. 

I’d say the romance was more Insta-lust than Insta-love, and honestly I don’t see anything wrong with that. There’s definitely still some tension or push/pull in the relationship between Gemma and Talan that it seems realistic. Sure, he can kinda lay it on thick, but with reason. ..

Gemma herself is an unlikeable character, and yet I loved her. She deals with chronic pain and crippling anxiety, and as someone who can relate, it can be difficult to find the energy for kindness or generosity when you’re running on fumes like that. She can be moody, irrational, and selfish, but she is also aware of how her actions affect others in the aftermath. She’s a traumatized person who is working on healing and coking to terms with her pain. And I think she has incredible growth over the course of the book. As the author intended, Gemma is absolutely Amy March and Emma Woodhouse coded. 

The plot of the book itself is super interesting, and I found myself unable to put the book down once the mysteries really got rolling. I had to know what all of these seemingly disparate threads meant. While the book takes a really wild turn in the second half, it quickly gets back on course, and there are some intense revelations. It puts a lot of the first half into perspective. 

I absolutely cannot WAIT for book two, which I have on good authority is definitely Farrin’s book. Which hopefully means more Ryder!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Self harm, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Vomit, Suicide, Ableism, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Blood

nukie19's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

This novel has a great premise but doesn't quite live up to it. It seems like Legrand was overambitious and couldn't decide what kind of book this was supposed to be - a romance, a dark fantasy, YA or adult? It was refreshing to read about a main character who is so different than usual due to her chronic pain, but she veers way too much into whiny and petulant teenager for a book that is billed as adult. It definitely has some pretty heavy steamy scenes but I didn't feel like this really was worth the length of the read. Save yourself and just stick with her other works.

Narration from Evelyn Rose was excellent. She was wonderful to listen to and I appreciated her subtle changes for each character.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an audiobook ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Abandonment, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Alcohol, and Grief

katsmeowbrown's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

taryn_g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Sexual content

Minor: Medical trauma, Grief, Abandonment, and Child abuse