Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

43 reviews

spicycronereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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? No

3.5

Ack! Audiobook loan expired before I finished! So I ended up listening to most of this book and then having a pretty long gap between when I heard the last two hours or so. Thinking back to my initial listen and thoughts, I didn’t really find the characters likable. There was enough of a mystery to keep me engaged though.

It’s a thriller with no romance elements. The story is narrated from two points of view over multiple time periods. So that gets a little confusing. And then at the end suddenly there’s a male narrator which really felt like it came out of left field. A lot of the narrative hinges on women bonding together over the violence done by men and forming support networks among systems that failed them.

In terms of diversity there are a few lesbian characters. No racial diversity that I can tell. And obviously no spice or swooniness. 

Overall, it was an entertaining listen. The mystery of how everything fit together and the larger themes of society failing women were pretty engaging. Don’t know that I’ll ever need to listen to it or read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Stalking

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

Police incompetence; police gaslighting

frannieman's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Stalking, Kidnapping, and Violence

hannahduda's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Rape, Stalking, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Incest, Sexual content, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Blood, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Sexual assault

sdcalgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Beautiful story speaking against sensationalizing serial killers and revealing the truth of how they are true, despicable garbage. The women and survivors who continue to fight are the real heroes 🫶🏼

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Death, Murder, and Sexual harassment

mreallyhatesyou's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking

fancyjess_party's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Murder, Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Body horror, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Violence, Rape, Death, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Blood, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

bageltop's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

I enjoyed the nonlinear approach to the storytelling a lot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Blood, Sexual assault, and Stalking

lisa00's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexism, Child abuse, Child death, Body shaming, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Outing, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Minor: Incest and Pandemic/Epidemic

lottie1803's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is a feminist re-telling of Ted Bundy's crimes against female students in Florida during the 1970s. It retells the crimes from the survivors' perspective and contains well-written commentary on American culture during the period. The prose was great, and it points out the media focus on handsome and charming male criminals at the expense of women's experiences and trauma. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, Blood, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Rape, Biphobia, and Forced institutionalization

spotter0809's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

I devoured this book in about 3 days! The strength that the women in the book have is inspiring. I'm glad that this story was told from their pov. It inspired me reframe my own previous knowledge and look at it through their lense as it always should have been and now finally is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Lesbophobia

Minor: Dementia and Incest