Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Where You End by Abbott Kahler

9 reviews

minimicropup's review against another edition

Just a little too YA and heavy on the intense twin sister bond and I’m not the biggest fan of amnesia tropes either so struggling to stay interested. I don’t think it sucks though. I just have so many library books to get through, so I’m returning this one for now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Medical trauma

le_lobey's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

This was ok. Written fairly well, but I really didn't care for the pig latin variant the twins used to talk to one another -- or that Kahler felt the need to translate it each time, even though we'd long learned to read it.

A lot of the action in the first half wasn't particularly gripping for me, and I think in many cases was only inserted to pay off later revelations. I guess it felt like it was written back to front. She goes to back room poker games because

that's how they used evangelize for the Plan

. How'd she end up at the game though? Well I guess we'll give her a love interest that will

enable her sister's later betrayal

.

At Violet's behest I guess?

Because so much of the first act came off as inconsequential I really struggled to get into the book. It was a lot more interesting once

the cult stuff

entered the picture. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Car accident, and Violence

eachz's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

UPDATE
I feel the need to knock this down a point after realizing the full extent of the author's using a real story for the plot. I did know upfront that she was inspired by a true story of twins where one had an accident that left him with almost total amnesia other than remembering his twin's face and name. But then I learned that

the real life twins were in fact both victims of sexual abuse as children which the remembering twin tried to protect his brother from.

Knowing this made the authors treatment feel cheap and kinda gross.

Original review below.

Positives
I really tore through the first half of this book; it's really gripping in its mystery. The back and forth timeline is employed well, and Kat's journey of self (re)discovery is interesting to follow along with.

Negatives
I found the end less than satisfying -- a lot of the reveals/resolutions frankly didn't make sense.

For example:

Violet's blackmail was a primary impetus of the conflict. But supposedly the twins ran away around the same time as Jude's betrayal/Violet getting sent to the big house. But the twins get rescued by Violet's mother only days after they run away. Why wouldn't she retrieve her daughter as soon as she found out what was going on??

That was my biggest plot confusion but there were lots of little things too. And aside from Kat, I found most of the characters pretty flat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Pedophilia, Animal death, Gun violence, and Car accident

luverbyrd's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Pedophilia, Car accident, Sexual content, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

campredwood's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Car accident, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

andiethegreat's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was incredible. I'm going to keep this review spoiler free but I was so pleased that it was not predictable as some thrillers are. 

There are themes explored in this book that I was not expecting, but they were approached tastefully and were obviously well researched. Read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Car accident, Child abuse, and Gun violence

soobooksalot's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Alcohol, Child abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

bookeduntil's review against another edition

DNF’d at 60%.

When Kat wakes from a two week coma and only remembers the face of the woman standing in the room with her—her twin sister Jude—it is suddenly up to Jude to help rebuild Kat’s knowledge of their lives up to that point. But is she being strictly honest with Kat, and if not, what truths are she trying to hide?

Told in two separate timelines and shifting between Jude and Kat, Where You End was an interesting story, for what I got through, but the number of triggers in this book was insane, so I needed to take a biiiiig step back from it for my own mental health. I highly advise going into this book with the knowledge that these triggers are present, and I hope that the published version of the text lists these in some ways to alert readers.

CONTENT WARNINGS:
Cult activity/behavior, abandonment, sexual abuse, sexual abuse of minors, violence, MLM activity, suicide, blood, manipulation of minors, mention of car accident, mental illness, pedophilia, incest/inappropriate acts of related adult to minor, gaslighting, child abuse, emotional abuse, injury and injury detail, medical trauma, grief, mentioned death of a parent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Incest, Gaslighting, Violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Medical content, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical trauma, Grief, and Death

Minor: Car accident and Death of parent

curiouser_books's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

What I loved: First, I was SO drawn to the cover. Seriously. I have a thing for creepy rabbits now I guess. Second, this was thrilling from the first page. There was no time to get into the story, I was in it from the first second. There were all these moments when I was like "oh, this is what's happening" only to have another twist that kept me guessing.

What I didn't love: so I clearly need more experience with this genre, but I feel like the ending isn't the best part. Getting there is the best part, but the ending isn't that awesome. Like it was, but the possibilities were almost better than what happened. I feel like this every time I read a thriller, it isn't just this one. It's like when the mysteries of the island on Lost were finally revealed it maybe wasn't as good as all the theories. Maybe it's a sign of a good author to provide so many possibilities. Maybe it's a sign I need more experience with the genre.

Who I'm recommending this to: I hesitate to recommend books in genres I'm inexperienced with, but I loved this, I think other people will too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Emotional abuse

In the past, the adult characters were a part of a cult as children. During that time there were "photos" taken of them that as children they were uncomfortable with and as adults they are not mentally well as a result of. It isn't talked about explicitly, but in an artistic way because the main characters don't like to think about it, even if it is the catalyst for what happens in the book.