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Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell's Reviews > Drawing Blood
Drawing Blood
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Whoa. This book was... something else. The first half of it was fantastic-- character development up to here, settings and atmosphere that had me feeling jealous, and the perfect blend of character-driven and story-driven elements propelling the book forward. The second half was... weird. Very, very, very weird. I was trying to think about what this book reminded me of and then it hit me: Stephen King's ROSE MADDER. The ending was like something out of a fever dream and I wasn't sure it worked. There was also some major insta-love between the two characters. They were both so broken, I wish there had been more time for them to build a rapport with each other on an emotional level before deciding they were in love after they did it once. I mean, really.
The story is very dark and I would advise anyone picking it up to go in with caution. It opens up with a violent murder-suicide scene and there are graphic depictions of self-harm. Towards the end, there's a lot of gore and emotional trauma. I didn't see many reviews warning people about this. The self-harm passage was particularly visceral and had me feeling a little light-headed (I think it occurs around 25% in the Kindle version).
Our two heroes are Zach and Trevor. Zach is a computer hacker and the son of abusive parents. Because of this he has major emotional intimacy problems and can't sleep with anyone he loves (or love anyone he sleeps with). Trevor, on the other hand, is the sole survivor of his father's murder rampage in their home. His father was an artist and an alcoholic before he just became an alcoholic (and then a murderer). Now Trevor himself is an artist and has become numb after a life spent in and out of foster homes. To anchor himself, he has returned to the scene of all of his traumas: the house in Missing Mile.
I think this book is worth reading because it is a work of LGBT+ horror, it is chock-full of '90s fringe culture references, and does a great job with atmosphere and setting. If the romance and the story had been just a little more fleshed-out this could have been an easy five-star read. I'm a little shocked that so many people were condemning this book for being too sexually graphic. Apart from being a little too descriptive about bodily fluid, this is more story than it is sex scene. I found the violence way more frequent and off-putting (funny how way fewer people are talking about that).
3 to 3.5 stars
by
Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell's review
bookshelves: horror, dark-and-twisted, lgbtqia-library, thriller
Jun 10, 2023
bookshelves: horror, dark-and-twisted, lgbtqia-library, thriller
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Whoa. This book was... something else. The first half of it was fantastic-- character development up to here, settings and atmosphere that had me feeling jealous, and the perfect blend of character-driven and story-driven elements propelling the book forward. The second half was... weird. Very, very, very weird. I was trying to think about what this book reminded me of and then it hit me: Stephen King's ROSE MADDER. The ending was like something out of a fever dream and I wasn't sure it worked. There was also some major insta-love between the two characters. They were both so broken, I wish there had been more time for them to build a rapport with each other on an emotional level before deciding they were in love after they did it once. I mean, really.
The story is very dark and I would advise anyone picking it up to go in with caution. It opens up with a violent murder-suicide scene and there are graphic depictions of self-harm. Towards the end, there's a lot of gore and emotional trauma. I didn't see many reviews warning people about this. The self-harm passage was particularly visceral and had me feeling a little light-headed (I think it occurs around 25% in the Kindle version).
Our two heroes are Zach and Trevor. Zach is a computer hacker and the son of abusive parents. Because of this he has major emotional intimacy problems and can't sleep with anyone he loves (or love anyone he sleeps with). Trevor, on the other hand, is the sole survivor of his father's murder rampage in their home. His father was an artist and an alcoholic before he just became an alcoholic (and then a murderer). Now Trevor himself is an artist and has become numb after a life spent in and out of foster homes. To anchor himself, he has returned to the scene of all of his traumas: the house in Missing Mile.
I think this book is worth reading because it is a work of LGBT+ horror, it is chock-full of '90s fringe culture references, and does a great job with atmosphere and setting. If the romance and the story had been just a little more fleshed-out this could have been an easy five-star read. I'm a little shocked that so many people were condemning this book for being too sexually graphic. Apart from being a little too descriptive about bodily fluid, this is more story than it is sex scene. I found the violence way more frequent and off-putting (funny how way fewer people are talking about that).
3 to 3.5 stars
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Reading Progress
June 6, 2023
–
Started Reading
June 6, 2023
– Shelved
June 6, 2023
– Shelved as:
horror
June 6, 2023
– Shelved as:
dark-and-twisted
June 6, 2023
– Shelved as:
lgbtqia-library
June 6, 2023
–
7.0%
"I've been slacking on reading books for Pride but this has been on the backburner for ages and the beginning is SO GOOD so I have high hopes"
June 7, 2023
–
20.0%
"The men who came here could never see enough of her body; it was as if they wanted to take her apart. If she could remove her G-string, they’d want her to bend over and spread her cheeks so they could look up her twat. If she could do that, she supposed, they’d want her to unzip her skin and peel it off.
This book is brutal"
This book is brutal"
June 8, 2023
–
37.0%
"I think this might be one of the most depressing books I've read in a while but I still like it lol"
June 9, 2023
–
50.0%
"I'm beginning to see what some of the more critical reviewers meant. The beginning was amazing but now it kind of feels like everything is fraying apart. Still good though and the writing and characterization is #goals"
June 9, 2023
–
51.0%
"Those eyes begged mercy. It was a wonderful emotion to see in someone’s eyes. You could grant it if you wanted. But you also had the power to refuse it."
June 10, 2023
–
55.0%
""There is a Creole saying … he has le coeur comme un artichaud.”
Eddy fumbled for her high school French. “A heart like an artichoke?”
“Oui. He has a leaf for everyone, but makes a meal for no one.”"
Eddy fumbled for her high school French. “A heart like an artichoke?”
“Oui. He has a leaf for everyone, but makes a meal for no one.”"
June 10, 2023
–
78.0%
"Yes when you're inside a haunted murder house, mind altering substances sound like a great idea"
June 10, 2023
–
84.0%
"Ok maybe I was too quick to say that this felt like a five star read because it's doing some really weird shit now lol"
June 10, 2023
–
87.0%
"“Birdland is a machine oiled with the blood of artists,” Bobby said dreamily. His tone was as detached as if he were giving a lecture. He came closer, held out the dripping hammer. “Birdland is a mirror that reflects our deaths. Birdland never existed.”"
June 10, 2023
–
100.0%
June 10, 2023
– Shelved as:
thriller
June 10, 2023
–
Finished Reading
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by
Clarice
(new)
Jun 10, 2023 07:20PM
Great review. It's weird that people are saying that the s@x is graphic if it's brief and not super graphic. I think more people are shocked when the p doesn't go in the v whether it's graphic or not.
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Clarice wrote: "Great review. It's weird that people are saying that the s@x is graphic if it's brief and not super graphic. I think more people are shocked when the p doesn't go in the v whether it's graphic or not."Yeah, I've definitely noticed that people get more outraged by gay or any sort of queer sex scenes rather than the cis-het M/F ones lol.
