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hapalyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The pacing AGAIN in this book is so bizarre and so bad. It's like a switch gets flipped to make the characters suddenly "lovey" and romantic. Horrible romantic resolution. The action is by far the best part of this book.
I also like the trope of "dumb character actually turns out to be a genius".
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury
ellavlind's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Asså Wills och Emmys relation va den sjukaste bergochdalbanan jag upplevt, sometimes may be good sometimes may be shit liksom. Älskade deras typ arga love confession iaf när hon frågar om han vill gifta sig. Så gulligt när alla lyckades gifta sig också hahah.
Asså Will i denna bocken va ju helt krossad typ?? SJUKASTE plot twisten att han skicka sig själv till black church och att han och hans farfar lurade Crist och han andra. Asså Wills trauma med vatten vid dehär laget är inte att leka med men så bra att han döda Martin och de gjorde de bättre att han gjorde de i vattnet och med sina händer.
Grät också när Martin sköt Alex men de va tur att hon inte dog asså för hon är nog tio tre favoritkaraktär.
Tyckte om Damon och Emmys relation och sättet de bonda på. Även om de va genom att döda och begrava Damons mamma vilket ledde till att Damon såg Emmys blåmärken från Martin så han gav henne nyckeln till rummet i kyrkan, så va de deras sätt.
Skulle säga att första typ 8 timmarna i boken eller va de va under de 5 dagarna i black church inte de mest underhållande för mig. Gillade som sagt viben ändå men de va nått som saknades under den tiden. Därför blir det inte mer än 4,5.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
asteria_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I disagree that you need to read the books before this in the series - I didn’t know it was a series until the end, & had no trouble following the plot and other details.
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
There is literally a warning at the start of the book. Proceed with cautionkurliesue1228's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
clindsey73's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
nineinchnails's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
i think being able to personally relate to a lot of emmy's experience made the book hit a lot harder for me than the others in this series, because PD managed to portray how it feels to walk on eggshells like that surprisingly accurately. the prose isn't amazing and there were a few spelling/grammar issues (nowhere near as bad as a lot of other DR tho imo) but i found the flashbacks so moving. in most of the other books i found the flashback chapters a bit of a chore to read but i was tearing through these!
i liked damon even more in this book. it might be because his "friendship" with emory felt realistic and pretty natural (especially compared to rika in kill switch lol) so it less like a character assassination than in his book. speaking of rika, i liked her a lot more in nightfall - she also felt more authentic than she did in kill switch! for some reason a lot of alex's scenes and interactions felt somewhat forced or out of character and i can't put a finger on why exactly. there seemed to be a big emphasis on her relationship with will and their past hookups to the point it felt like overkill but
i really liked the characterisation in this book and ended up liking the new characters way more than i expected. i was scared i'd end this book not caring about emmy and will's relationship since he's been obsessed with her since like the first book but it was developed well + i could understand why they fell in love. however, the last bit of the book (and the epilogue) fell a little flat for me and i'm not sure why, other than the pacing. i think it might be because there was so many characters together it was just a lot to keep track of, or something like that? anyways in regards to the
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
siw_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Minor: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, and Murder
jen1804's review
- 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
3.75
I also personally felt that the descriptions at times were lacking to the point where I found I was getting confused about where they were and what was happening and the logistics of it all.
The scenes of Martin abusing Emory were so graphic and so excruciating to read. I felt so sad for Em. I think Penelope Douglas did a good job of making us despise Martin and portraying the mind of a domestic abuse victim. Harrowing.
The friendship that blossomed between Em and Damon was so endearing, understanding each other’s pain and keeping each other’s secrets, though I feel robbed of not getting to witness Will’s reaction to Em telling him about Natalya and why they were in the school showers together that night. I love that Damon gave Em the carfax room from one abused child to another, and I love that Damon and Emory now have a design and building business together, plus him rebuilding the gazebo using her blueprints was just beautiful.
So glad Martin fucking died. But I so badly wanted Damon to dive off the cliff after Will and be the one to pull him out of the water as a kinda full circle moment.
I loved the romantic scenes between Will and Emory so much, they were so cute, I bookmarked so many of their lines, especially their flashbacks from when they were in school. I liked seeing the female play a more dominant part too. There was not enough romance content though! And the ‘present’ scenes seemed too rushed. Like woah that marriage proposal did not have enough of a present day romantic foundation behind it after all the spiteful Blackchurch behaviour for it to make sense.
As much as I thought the marriage was quick though I can forgive it, because the four way wedding was everything and I adored that so much!
If I’m being honest Will’s Blackchurch agenda kinda doesn’t really make a great deal of sense to me, like whatever, and the whole Aydin/Alex sub plot is just a big nope. But I’m glad Will’s grandpa was a double crossing legend and seeing their relationship with each other was lush.
I did however really like that Will discovered Coldfield and the tunnels and I loved the idea of their own private access to all these places around Thunder Bay and Meridian City including tunnels to each other’s houses.
I wasn’t very happy about how angry Will was about the whole Em being ‘the reason they went to prison’ thing, because let’s be clear it was NOT her fault and she did not in fact owe any one of them an apology. This series is basically full of the guys holding grudges over miscommunication, lol.
The train carriage scene was weird but I guess also not unexpected from this bunch of characters! Pahahhh.
Overall I enjoyed it, and really loved the insight into their kids ten years later that we got in the epilogue. I love that these four guys who were basically entitled assholes in high school let’s be real, have all found a strong woman who’s their match and equal. I really enjoyed the context of found family throughout this series and the love that is woven through all of them.
Satisfactory ending? Yes.
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
coligmueller's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
romanysky's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Violence and Pregnancy
Minor: Death, Police brutality, Grief, and Death of parent