Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

20 reviews

kirabrouillard7's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Murder

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This really didn't do it for me. The reveal hit me like a nudge - I'm not sure why. The main narrator was doing like a brooding style voice, and maybe that came across as low-energy? The story was interesting, but I didn't really find it compelling. Maybe I would have if I had read it on paper? Glad that this wasn't my first book by Ms. Foley because I wouldn't be tremendously excited.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Blood

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

1.75

Context: I wish I could remember the review that made me want to read this, I thought it was going to be more mystery and less thriller. 

 

TLDR:  I got hung-up on the foster care stuff, your mileage may vary. 

 

The plotting was pretty tight for the most part with a few plot holes that didn’t matter very much. The central mystery was interesting and fresh. Most plot twists were a surprise. 

 

My main problem came with the characterisation. The foster care system does heavy lifting in explaining Jess and Ben. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if there weren’t some important plot points that for someone somewhat familiar with the system are just plain unbelievable. I don’t know how much experience Ms Foley has had with the system but she might have benefited from an experienced beta reader.It’s rather like a non-Roma writer with a main character who is Roma and not having some Roma readers to advise them on Roma life. Just saying, “oh, they were in foster care so they are like this” is lazy. 

 

The ending felt like Ms Foley found her deadline approaching and her editor wanted a happy ending for all rewrite. Anyone surviving foster care could tell you that there never is a happy ending for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

the foster care system

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This was such a good crime/thriller, I did not see any of the plot twists, it was done so well 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

wickedgrumpy's review

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.25

...Yet another thriller that I did not enjoy.  It was filled with characters that had one main facet which was being awful.  Would not recommend.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

readingtotravel's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying

kiwichill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Many twists and turns which kept me in suspense.  The audiobook is narrated by different people for each character which enhances the experience 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, and Classism

kkopacetic's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

emilywemily6's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

I didn’t like this book as much as the other Lucy Foley book I read. It felt so long with nothing happening for most of the book. At the beginning, the general vibe was eerie and suspicious, but as truths came to light for some reason the tone and atmosphere was less and less sinister. I guessed the culprit(s) early on, though didn’t know how everything fit together. The author did a good job at fitting lots of details together that seemed unrelated. I was unsurprised by the big reveals of the whodunit and while the twist at the end was unexpected, it wasn’t satisfying- it was more like, “oh, okay, that makes more sense I guess.” I haven’t read a lot of mysteries or thrillers, but this one felt predictable, especially as the pieces of the puzzle began sliding together. The dual timelines and memories in the narratives were a bit confusing too, especially the closer we got to the crime and the memories and present day were only a couple of days apart. Overall, an alright book, but nothing stood out to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Deportation

kyrstin_p1989's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I almost DNF’d this which I never do because it was so slow — it felt like nothing at all happened for the first 150 pages or so. The end picked up and was actually really good, which saved this book from being a 1 or 2 star. I didn’t see a lot of what happened coming but not because of the mystery, just because it felt like nothing at all was revealed at the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation