Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

50 reviews

nineinchnails's review

dark mysterious 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? No

3.5

the tone of the writing does feel slightly immature/juvenile but that could be intentional to reflect the main character. i didn’t guess the twists at all so it did what i wanted it to do as a thriller! i love dysfunctional families and this definitely delivered but the characters felt pretty flat outside of that - i also didn’t care for the preachiness from nana but i can see how some would like it. the ending felt a little “unrealistic” in a way i wasn’t prepared for but i still really enjoyed it overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Car accident, Death, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Gun violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent and Animal death

samluh's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Very good pay off at the end! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, Grief, Gore, Death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Animal death, Alcohol, Sexual content, Bullying, Blood, Gun violence, Child death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Abandonment

dev921's review

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Alcoholism, Bullying, Murder, Death, Alcohol, Body shaming, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

debhawkins's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Medical content

Moderate: Car accident and Death

screechie's review

sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Another one that benefits from speeding up the audio, it suited the pacing of the book more. I did like the characters, though some were fleshed out more than others. Glad the acknowledgement of the Agatha Christie inspiration was there. 

What made me want to throw the book against the wall was the Sixth Sense-ing of an ending. It felt like we were cheated out of another ending by a publisher who just wanted to see it printed already. And given the And Then There Were None source, it was apparent from the “2nd” death Nana was still alive, but it being that obvious was a bummer because it killed any suspense built around the possibility of a red herring. It was a “drop the shoe already” from exasperation instead of anticipation.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Animal death, Bullying, Death of parent, Death, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Medical content, Violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, and Chronic illness

boba_n_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

Daisy Darker resembles Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None... but with a twist. 

The Darker family is... messed up. To say the least. Each family member has secrets they would rather not share but come to light at Nana's 80th birthday party. Everyone is stuck at Nana's house for 8 hours after the tide comes in, and, when Nana is found dead at midnight, everyone begins to panic trying to figure out who did it. As the family bickers over who killed Nana, more and more strange things start to happen as other family members start to disappear... and die. 

I thought the book was well-written, intriguing, and fast-paced. I enjoyed trying to figure out whodunit as I kept reading, and I was delightfully surprised by the multiple twists and turns in the story. One of my favorite parts of the book was the explanation of who, what, when, where, and why at the end. 

Overall, this was a great twist on a classic that I'd recommend to thriller and mystery readers alike.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Death, Murder, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Addiction, Gun violence, and Alcoholism

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Bullying, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Body horror, Body shaming, Car accident, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, and Grief

jessspeake's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Grief, Suicide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Car accident, Murder, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Ableism, and Medical content

Moderate: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, and Infidelity

blewballoon's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This wasn't quite what I was expecting. Yes, it's a locked room mystery type story where a group of people are trapped somewhere and they start dying one by one. Like some others stories with that premise, the people are mostly bad and hard to sympathize with, which makes their deaths seem less tragic. In this case, we also get loads of backstory from Daisy's perspective that seems to want to round out the characters of the family members and give them a little more depth, but ultimately still remind you that they are terrible people. I kind of want to re-read the story after the big reveal at the end, because it frames things in a very different light, but I didn't like the book enough to go through it twice. If you are looking for a thriller, this might be a little too slow paced for you. If you are looking for a spooky Halloween read (the main plot is set at Halloween), this may be too focused on family drama for you. The dysfunctional family and episodes from their past are really the focus. I listened on audiobook and I think the narrator made it a lot more enjoyable than I would have found it otherwise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Medical content

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

It definitely gave off And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (which was mentioned in the book) plus the narrator was great, her voice was quite relaxing.

I went into this knowing nothing about it and I kinda recommend that.  The plot is  much more interesting that way in my opinion.  However, it definitely felt dragged out and at times, it seemed like there were some unnecessary chapters but overall it was pretty entertaining.  

The plot twist near the end got me.  I wasn’t expecting that but I’m not sure how I felt about it at the same time.  Everything tied in together to the poem of the family.  Exposing the family secrets one by one leading them to the biggest secret of all and getting revenge for it after so many years.

And lastly, never cross Nana… or else you’ll end up like the rest of the Darker family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Bullying, Child death, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Alcohol, Ableism, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Confinement, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Body shaming, Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Drug use, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, and Sexual harassment