Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

55 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious slow-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: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Alcohol, Infertility, Confinement, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Bullying, Cursing, Dysphoria, Kidnapping, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Torture, Animal death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: War, Miscarriage, and Child death

1jessicabearx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious relaxing tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

“As far as I can tell there are only two emotions that keep the world spinning year after year...One is fear. The other is desire.”

Wow. This book has such a rich story and so many plot twists! When I started this I was not ready for the level of emotional attachment I would form to this story and these characters, maybe it's because the story was so long and I spent so much time with this family but I adored it.

Every main character was well developed and believeable. It was easy to love them, especially Ysabeau who honestly holds my heart; her developing relationship with Diana is so sweet. Matthew was a little toxic at times in his reactions and mindset but I don't really feel like this is an issue as he's a Vampire with heightened protective instincts so what do you expect.

The last couple of chapters were so wholesome, I want to be a part of this new family. I was not prepared for the genius comedy in this book because GIRL I was rolling at points haha. Also this story is just a really cool concept? The Knights of Lazarus...damn. 

Excited to read the next one but need a break first lol - I'll be real, this book felt as long as it looked. Took me a whole month but when I was reading I thoroughly enjoyed the escapism. This whole series has huge cosy autumnal vibes, I reckon that's why it took me so long to get through because It felt too weird reading about a spooky vampire house while I was getting sunburnt. Also definitely read this series while listening to classical music, the vibes are unmatched.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Blood

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Murder, and Kidnapping

abby_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

2.0

📖
I went back and forth on what I wanted to rate this. I have mixed feeling about this book.

Based on the blurb, I was excited. I thought this sounded great. I think this book had a great start and based on the summary, I knew the love story of Diana and Matthew was coming. I liked that Diana was older and she had life experience before meeting Matthew and them getting involved.

I started to lose interested around the time Matthew watched her sleeping, but I stuck with the book. I lost more interest as the relationship between Diana and Matthew developed.

I went into this book hoping it was a more mature and developed version of Twilight -- mainly featuring a better female character and a better romance. I don't think I had unreasonable hopes/expectations. But neither of those panned out for me.

The plot wasn't horrible, though I found to be predictable. The writing style was okay. The characters, mainly Diana, had me going back and forth and I still can't really decide how I feel beyond I think they were flat and some of the character development went backwards. I'm not really sure what I think about the relationships, mainly the one between Matthew and Diana. I can't decide if it's better or worse than Edward and Bella.

Despite my mixed feelings, overall I did enjoy reading this book. I plan to read the sequel. I have low exceptions and I'm curious how this series will compare to Twilight. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Stalking, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore, Sexism, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Misogyny

gillian_aftanas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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: Torture, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Animal death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Stalking, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Murder, and Kidnapping

Minor: Cursing, Child death, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Infertility

kimberlina82's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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

Absolute perfection!  From beginning to end! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Murder, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, War, Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

gansey_02's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Sexual content

larkspurlane's review against another edition

dark slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Panic attacks/disorders

dizzyappealam's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

He is super possessive, but it was kind of cool and cute. Suprisingly wholesome ending. Will read the next book. Mystery is eh. I hope it gets better later. Was a cozy dark academia vibe.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Murder, and War

czoltak's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders

stavoosh's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

5.0

Wow. I felt like a child reading my favorite series while reading this book. It has every element I love: beautiful prose, logical storyline, high stakes, imaginative world-building, intellectual content, and not to mention the romance of all romances.
The story follows Diana, who studies the history of alchemy. The witch who represses her magic comes across an enchanted book in Oxford and returns it when she is unable to understand its magic. The plot takes off once creatures start pressuring her to recall the book for their own selfish reasons. Matthew, an old and well-respected vampire, originally wants the book for his own noble reason and they proceed to fall in love in their quest to understand the book, why everyone wants it, and why Diana cannot control her magic.
Diana and Matthew's love lifted off the pages and felt sincere in a magical way. I loved the slight enemies to lovers and later, a touch of fate. Harkness takes care to develop these characters with all their faults, personalities, and past creating dynamic characters whose actions made sense.
I loved the historical aspects of the book. I learned so much about European history which made reading such a fun learning experience. I also loved the way vampires, witches, and daemons were very sophisticated creatures that were explained adequately.
As someone who watched the show before reading the book, many of my questions were answered and I was very intrigued the whole way through. I prolonged this read as much as possible because I didn't want it to end.
I definitely recommend this book to people who like historical settings, calls to philosophical and historical texts, a plot of mystery, fantasy that blends into the real world, and romance!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Animal death