Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

27 reviews

supermormongirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

One of the best books I’ve ever read- excellent plot twists, charming setting, strong characters, incredible main characters with amazing witty banter, LGBT+ representation (supporting characters), iconic Bestiehood, insightful, inspiring, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at once! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Medical content, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Cursing, Misogyny, and Murder

imds's review

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Child death, Death, and Grief

h4ppycupcake's review

dark funny hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

A sweet book that looks a little closer at death and how it fits into our lives. The romance was quirky in a charming way, once it got off the ground. Initially the interaction between the two main characters didn’t make a ton of sense to me (kissing for no reason in an alley???) but once the FMC went to her hometown the relationship made much more sense. Overall I liked it a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Bullying, Car accident, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

tabea1409's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Sexual content, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Murder and Child death

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

4.5

 Finished reading: October 30th 2023

"I began to realize that love wasn't dead, but it wasn't forever, either. It was something in between, a moment in time where two people existed at the exact same moment in the exact same place in the universe."

I kept hearing fantastic things about this story, and I decided to finally give in and read it myself. The fact that the story includes ghosts also makes it a perfect Halloween read right? Either way, I definitely understand the love for this story now! The Dead Romantics is without doubt one of my romance highlights of the year, and I'm already looking forward to read more of this author. I'm not always a big fan of paranormal romance stories, but in this case it turned out to be a big hit. I simply loved how the ghost element was woven into the story, and it really took the story to the next level for me. A lot of this also has to do with its cast of characters as well; they were extremely easy to warm up to, but then again I do love a quirky character. The slowburn romance was spot on for me, although there are some more steamy scenes included towards the ending. I wasn't even bothered by those, because by then I was way too invested in the rest of the story. The Dead Romantics isn't just about a ghostly romance, as it includes a wide range of topics including family, death, bullying and all things bookish of course. There is so much to love about this story, and I can highly recommend it to anyone looking for a well written, engaging and spooky romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Car accident, Alcohol, Bullying, Sexual content, Grief, Infidelity, Death, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

takarakei's review against another edition

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

4.0

• paranormal romance
  • Florence can see ghosts
  • her family owns a funeral home
• small town setting
• it's fairly slow burn due to the... circumstances
• family dynamics are a big focus
• diverse, queer side characters

This book deals heavily with grief and the death of a parent, so it should be approached in the right headspace. Florence's Ex is a POS. I think for a romance this was a bit light on the romance and more focus on Florence's past, her family and like what's going on with her career.

3/5🌶️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting

Minor: Car accident and Bullying

Florence's Ex is a POS

lizzye33's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cursing, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Stalking, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Medical content, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Bullying, and Toxic relationship

gizmorox's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse

wilybooklover's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

2.5

This had such an interesting premise, but sadly didn’t live up to my expectations. There was so much potential here for fun ghost interactions and swoony romance, but it seemed to get overshadowed by the family/ex drama, funeral plans, and lots of talk about grief. The setup was so delightfully weird, and I just wish it had delved into the seeing ghosts aspect more. I would’ve loved more detail around the murder that Florence solved as a teen, for example. The plot seemed very chaotic and bounced from one thing to the other without giving the characters time to breathe, and despite being labelled a romcom, I thought it was more cringe than funny. I think the scene where she forgives her former bully is supposed to show growth and maturity or whatever but it honestly just made my soul leave my body in second-hand mortification. Not to mention that she calls coffee zoom zoom juice. Zoom zoom juice. 

I did really like Ben, he was very sweet (to the extent that I didn’t understand Florence’s initial antagonism towards him). Loved the pining when he’s a ghost and they can’t touch no matter how much they want to. Their first kiss scene before he becomes a ghost did bother me; you can’t just go around suddenly kissing people who have expressed zero indication of interest without asking or at least giving them time to pull away first, especially if you work with them. It’s one thing if they had been flirting or something first but it literally came out of nowhere and it’s never mentioned again in the rest of the book.

And it was so odd and unbelievable that Florence just went off to finish writing the book for three months before going to see Ben after he woke up from his coma.

 

Oh, and they’re not gauges — they’re plugs, or tunnels. Gauge is a measurement of the thickness, not a type of jewellery. A minor pet peeve. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Car accident, and Gaslighting

Minor: Medical content and Infidelity

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted 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 was on my library’s waitlist for this book for what felt like forever and now I know why. 

A sweet and romantic ghost story about a ghost writer with a predictable plot twist that I nonetheless thoroughly enjoyed to the last word. This book made me laugh, cry, and smile while crying and placing my hand over my heart. 

The Day family was perfectly written with the eldest, middle, and youngest siblings with all their different roles and personalities. 

There were multiple love stories woven into this book and all but one were beautiful to read. 

To the next 27 people waiting to borrow this book from my local library: it’s worth the wait. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Sexism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Violence, Cursing, and Car accident