Reviews with content warning for Murder - Mary: An Awakening of Terror

Wow! I was not expecting the book to turn out the way it did when I first started reading. I'm also so surprised that a man wrote this story; I just thought they had a male narrator reading the foreword at the beginning of the audiobook. I think Nat did a great job with constructing this horror story. I also appreciated the forward and afterword with his thoughts.

I'm not perimenopausal yet, but I'm not far off. Mary resonated with me because I saw myself in her (

besides the murdering part lol

).

Susan Bennett did a phenomenal job at narrating. It gave the story more feelings and life.

I really can't believe I actually liked Aunt Nadine at the end.

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jesikakaley's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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writemare31's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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jill_holly's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to love this. A menopausal FMC possibly going unhinged in a small town with cult vibes sounds like exactly the book I want to read. And it started off that way. But, somewhere in the middle it felt a bit to me like stuffing as many horror elements as possible into a narrative and it lost what it had built for me. I loved Mary's aunt as a character though. She was gross and crude and hilarious. And while I appreciated the author's self-aware afterward about the challenges of writing about menopause as a cisgender male, I still think that maybe that's not the subject for men to write about 🤷🏻‍♀️

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mmgracie's review

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dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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bmpicc's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Do NOT call her crazy! What did I just read??

Horror, very dark (humor & plot), menopause, cults. Beware of triggers and don't skip the author's note or the afterword.

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britannica828's review

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.75

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mnash_2020's review

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was crazy (Sorry, Mary, I know you hate that word). It was very slow to start and I think it was overall too long.

Some things I did really like: the writing, the way the unreliable narrator was written, and how the plot did play out.

There were definitely some things that happened in here around the halfway point that I was not expecting. I think there are some very important topics touched on in this, and I think they were done well. I would definitely read something else by this author.

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