I'm gonna post thoughts on Crazy Rich Asians in the new thread, but I enjoyed it well enough.

Re: The Butcher of the Forest: I wouldn't say the author's sadistic with their characters, no. From my (potentially desensitized) perspective, I'd say the horror is actually pretty mild, to be honest. The MC goes through a reasonable amount of trauma as she deals with the eldritch creatures (fae?) she encounters; my content warning... er... warning was mainly to do with a part of her past that she briefly recounts toward the end. It's only about 100 pages, so not a big investment if you try it and find it not to your taste.