Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Chlorine by Jade Song

23 reviews

_sappho_wannabe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was so intense and horrifying in the perfect way. If you liked Our Wives Under the Sea you would like this.
Would be 5 stars if I could see myself rereading but I don’t.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Body shaming, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Gore, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

szuum's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content, Racism, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

alaris's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.0

If you're fine with body horror and self harm and tales of obsession, this is... still really dark. Interesting idea, uneven approach to it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Body horror, and Toxic relationship

joensign's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Medical content, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

the narrative wasn't cohesive, the writing wasn't my favorite, and the dialogue felt unnatural. i think i wanted more of a revenge story but we didn't really get that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Pedophilia, Gore, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Medical content, Sexual content, Abandonment, Classism, Racism, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic relationship, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Confinement, Pregnancy, and Abortion

aliclare's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Magical realism

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Gore, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

lexiesophocli's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.5

felt a lot like ‘our wives under the sea’ in that the mystical element was very confusing, despite the rest of the story being an interesting read. I was waiting for a deeper dive (pardon the pun) into the characters and their motivations but it never came - all in all, this book felt a bit shallow (wow two for two on the wordplay) and lazy for what could’ve been an incredible read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical content, Body horror, Blood, Self harm, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Addiction, Drug use, Abortion, and Car accident

biobeetle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, and Blood

Moderate: Medical trauma and Medical content

Minor: Sexual harassment

lyrelyre's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

a bit of a tedious and overdone book that could've used a heavy hand with edits.  repetitive in terms of pacing.  the main character and the "love interest" have the same character voice which hurts with the main character's personal identity (being misunderstood/suffering unique problems).  Best part was the peek into swimmer's life. might recc for someone new to the horror genre because the scenes are few but visceral.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Self harm

kearneth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

This book was a breathtaking story on the struggles of chronic mental health and  girlhood, and how we can lose who we were and those we loved, without them ever really leaving. As someone who has had depression for a while, this book touched me deeply, I related to Ren and Cathy in both ways and I am proud of and those I am not. This was grotesque and raw, and the perfect meditation on the horrors of girlhood, mental health and finding who we are, and who we need to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship