Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Paris Apartment

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

48 reviews

duwella's review

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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lewbug's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I’m honestly between a 3.75 and 4 star rating for this book. This book dealt with some pretty heavy topics and not always with grace but I did really enjoy the story and had a lot of fun with it. Pretty classic Lucy Foley story with its twists and turns. I didn’t really feel like it needed all the romantic moments it had and some felt kind of shoved in last minute.

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krosebooks's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This book had interesting perspectives through the characters. I liked that the chapters were short and the writing style flowed well through out the book, keep pushing me through the book. The mystery side of things I found a little predictable, but I think the author used that on purpose because while I did predict some things I didn't predict everything that happened in the climax.

Has Salt Burn vibes

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sylvestra's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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mhaulman's review

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sharkemoji's review against another edition

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3.0

Jess was so annoying I couldn't stand her. I nearly dnfed because of how many “she gave me a look. a look that said [somethjng that cannot necessarily be put into a look]” and “i know her… idk why” or “i know him…. i can’t recall why he’s so familiar”
but the twist was actually a bit exciting and the actual writing was really good.

the nick being gay thing / them hooking up was so predictable from page 1 that I was actually disappointed. the Camille/Dominique thing fell super flat and I was not impressed by the "shock" it was supposed to provide. Camille could have moved in with some random dude that we never learned the name of.
the date rape-esque scene in the middle was literally awful. i dont care that she didn't actually get date raped it was just so out of place and unnecessary. would have liked to see mimi do something more in line with anything she had already done (as she isnt a drug girl...so it was just...weird) to show her being like. crazy. idk.
i liked the twist of jaques being buried in the garden!!!! that was super exciting i loved nick's reaction to the initial body and then the reveal that it was his father. amazing

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james1star's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was rather moyen (French for average… blame Google translate if it’s wrong) in all honesty. It started out great with our ‘main’ character Jess hastily arriving in Paris to live with her step brother Ben for some time but when she gets there he’s seeming disappeared and there’s some concerning clues in his apartment that make her question what’s going on. After sleeping if off she consults the other occupants in the building but no one really wants to help… and can she trust them? … and a mystery ensues. Most of the chapters are from Jess’s POV but we also get ones from Ben, Nick, Mimi, Sophie, and the Concierge who all live in the complex in the current timeframe with flashback moments to the near and more distant past.

I’d say this book is very well written, it has suspense and a good story arc that builds up to the main twist with others along the way. From the start, I was really intrigued and on the whole it’s an easy, engaging read but it fell flat as the book developed. I liked the high angst and drama with the ‘what’s next?!’ cliff hangers at the end of the short chapters but then it gets rather meh. I think once or twice to build up this tension but then the situation not being as bad as we thought is okay but when it occurs multiple times the reader somewhat loses trust in the storytelling and, for me, become rather uninterested in following on - it’s a little like the ‘boy who cried wolf’ scenario where you don’t really care what’s going to happen as the book moves on because you can already tell it won’t be that bad afterwards. It’s billed as a mystery and yes I would still classify it as such but Jess isn’t really the best (or good in fact) at sleuthing out the clues as to what has happened to Ben. Instead she stumbles across things and continually makes herself known, I guess the reader has to piece things together more so which I get (and liked) but Jess didn’t really fulfil her purpose.

She’s also again rather meh. I liked her back story and her drive at times but on the whole she was quite irritating. The same goes for the rest of the characters where I did feel for some of them at times but there’s always this barrier up between them and the reader I feel. All are relatively unlikeable and unrealistic portrayals too. I think Ben was my favourite but more the best of a bad-mediocre bunch. A certain character’s sexuality being a plot twist-like part was a bit ‘eye roll’y to be honest, I liked the inclusion of a queer character but to make it a ‘what?!’ moment felt a little crass. At the end things are explained but I still felt like a few loose ends were left and I’m very 50:50 on if it liked it or not, I think some characters got off a bit too easily.

Overall, I would still recommend this book but it’s moyen, it’s average and I was rather let down. I would be interested in reading more by Lucy Foley as it’s still well written just fell flat so maybe others can deliver where this got lost in transition.

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bookcheshirecat's review

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

2.5

“It’s not about where you came from. What kind of shit might have happened to you in the past. It’s about who you are. What you do with the opportunities life presents to you.”

➽ This was my first Lucy Foley book and I'm unimpressed! The Paris Apartment is about Jess, who's down on her luck and hoping to stay a few days with her half-brother in Paris. When she ends up arriving at his apartment, Jess finds out that Ben's nowhere to be seen and might be missing. Something isn't right with the apartment complex and she plans to find out what happened to her brother. This book was painfully boring. Even the multi-cast audiobook couldn't save it. I didn't find the multiple POVs compelling and some perspectives were so offputting. The mystery was bland and I didn't find any of the characters memorable. I remember one of them being a teen girl and it was strangely vulgar at times. The author also did a thing where she left her scenes on a huge cliffhanger but then the next chapter is so underwhelming. She wants to convince you that something horrible is happening to the character, but it always turns out fine and more like a misunderstanding. After the first couple of times, it got on my nerves so much.

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emilywemily6's review

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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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kimberleysreading's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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