Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

21 reviews

chanlo1994's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Drug use, Death, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Moderate: Vomit, Child death, and Chronic illness

Minor: Miscarriage

Loved the twists

tierraskye's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Abortion

ladylothlorien's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Really enjoyed this! I have a bad habit of starting books that I haven’t really properly read the blurb for and then being like “oh this is a ‘Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein’ retelling!” Then again it does add a level of delight to realize this as I’m reading so maybe it’s for the best? As with her Jane Eyre retelling, Hawkins isn’t slavishly devoted to the source material so she jumps in very interesting directions with this story. I do also have a weakness for historical fiction-type stories where someone in the present is connecting with someone from the past and both stories are unfolding together for the reader. I identified more with Emily I think than Mari but that’s more of my own personal experiences that were similar to Emily’s. Although I’ve never had a friend like Chess thank goodness. 

once again though the ending is kind of throwing me off. Like of course killing Matt isn’t going to result in a breakup with Chess like Emily was hoping for in a mirror of what she thought happened with Mari and Lara. It’s just going to make Emily beholden to Chess forever since Chess knows this huge secret. I don’t really have a problem with that. I don’t really like the revelation that pretty much all of the Mari sections were fictionalized by Mari to make what happened more interesting. Maybe it’s less the betrayal of Emily who clearly used it as a blueprint for freedom and more the betrayal of me the reader. I’m sensitive to stories where the author (in this case Hawkins) deliberately lies about something without there being any indication of it that I can point to and go “oh I missed that hint!” <\spoiler>

So the ending ended up knocking off a star but I still overall enjoyed the book. And I’m really enjoying Hawkins’s penchant for these sort of literary retellings, so definitely going to read more by her. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Child death, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide, and Vomit

The age gap relationship is Mari and Pierce who got together when Mari was still an underage teen, but Mari is 19 for most of the events of this book. Emily is also going thru a contentious divorce which for anyone who has been thru one might feel uncomfortably familiar.

elzibub's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Child death, and Chronic illness

Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, Suicide, and Miscarriage

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this storytelling, and I was definitely kept guessing quite a few times during the story. I think the complicated friendship relationship was really interesting, and the kind of "mixed media" style kept the reader really paying attention.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Classism, Bullying, Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Murder, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use, Medical content, Infidelity, Grief, Misogyny, Suicide, and Vomit

olives_18's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Chronic illness, and Violence

jkar7's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

This book really said "Oh you want toxic? Well strap on your hazmat suit!"
I don't think I really liked a single character in this book, but I loved to hate them. Emily and Mari were tolerable, but not sure why Emily didn't also

"let" Chess drown too.

.
A nice easy read, would be a great beach read! Maybe don't read it if you're planning a trip to a remote Italian town and staying in an old villa though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Suicide, Murder, Child death, Infidelity, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Minor: Chronic illness, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Stalking

nykolereads's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Chronic illness

a_lyttle_book_blog's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a pretty good dual timeline thriller. I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't a stand-out, in my opinion.

I wasn't super interested when it would go back to the earlier timeline. I liked the current timeline story and found myself not as engaged during the earlier timeline, which I think made it harder to get into overall. I felt that the end was a bit rushed, but the story was still good.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Chronic illness, and Toxic relationship

markedwithanm's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting