Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

8 reviews

qrschulte's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I think I liked this one more than the last one. And again, I called the big reveals. 

Things I liked:
- GREY!!!
- Iisak. More of him please
- Jake‘s redemption. 
- The romance actually made sense and had some chemistry and a bit of steam. 

Things I didn’t like:
- The Lia Mara narrator made the girls sound waaaay younger than they were supposed to be. She also was a bit melodramatic, either with a laugh in her voice or like a swoon teen, which was a little much for my tastes. 
- The torture
- The 180 degree flip of characterizations of Harper and Rhen, which I guess is only slightly explained. Especially after Rhen’s character growth in the last book. And Harper being okay with Rhen’s behavior after giving her brother (warranted) shit in the first book? Makes no sense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Body shaming, Murder, Violence, War, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Torture

Moderate: Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Medical content, Abandonment, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death

sharon98's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

I really like the story, but the writer did Rhen and Harper dirty in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Physical abuse

scarlett_f's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol and Death

Minor: Confinement

LGBTq, cerebral palsy

littletiramisu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

roget's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Mental illness, War, and Bullying

Minor: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Body shaming, and Slavery

Miscarriage doesn't happen, but it almost does, and the scene might be disturbing to some. Pedophilia is alluded to briefly in a few places as a vague threat to a side character, in a way that you understand what the narrative is talking about, but it is not explored or detailed at length, and the relevant character is protected from physical actions of that nature. There is a graphic scene in which two characters are chained and whipped, and one of them is an adolescent.

livinthebubble's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

4.5

Once again, Grey stole my heart. Anything he does I love and this whole book is about Grey so... yeah. When I finished book 1, I thought I knew what was going to happen in this one.

I thought there was going to be a love triangle between Grey, Harper and Rhen more than in the first.

  But I was pleasantly surprised that that, thankfully, did not happen. At first, I didn't really like Lia Mara's POV 

as I lowkey shipped Grey with Harper, and with her own POV, I knew that Lia and Grey would end up together. (giving Tower of Dawn vibes)

  But then I grew to like her-ish, and enjoyed reading her POV's as well as the romance 

(I still think Grey and Harper would be much better). I was really happy that her sister wasn't shitty in the end. I always love a good sibling relationship.

 
Aside from the main characters, I really enjoyed Jake's friendship with Grey, as well as the entire friend group together. (Tycho is such a sweetie, I want to protect him) 
My only critique is Rhen. In the last book I felt meh about him, I preferred Grey, obviously. He had a "redemption" arc, yet it was completely reversed in this book. I don't understand why he had to be such a dick, more than in the last book. 

  Whipping a child and the one guy who stood by him during the curse?? wtf 

Also, Harper and Rhen's relationship confused me. 

I don't remember very well the last book but, by the end of it, I thought that Harper was unsure whether she loved him and that it was Grey's loyalty/love that fixed the curse. So I didn't really get why she suddenly is so in love with him that she stays after he's done horrendous stuff.

 
And finally, the ending. It shook me, I'll say that. 

Rhen is an idiot and I don't understand how he's in this situation again... 

I was not expecting that ending, which is something I like in books. I really want to read the last book, and see what's going to happen.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse

charliedezeeuw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

crocheteer34's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Vomit