Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

14 reviews

nuuamuikkunen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I think the beginning is a bit slow and not so good, but the plot gets more interesting after reading about 50% of the book.

It's clear to see, this book was written about women, by women. Although their actions might be stupid or weird, they aren't illogical. That's something men tend to get wrong with women.

The part where

it turned out Vanessa and Nellie are the same person, was so good! It really showed how she had changed from one person to another. They were the same, but still very different.

Also, it was great that even the very end of the book revealed new secrets.

I really liked this and I'm looking forward to reading all the other books made by Hendricks and Pekkanen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Infertility, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Car accident and Miscarriage

qweenq__'s review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

Really enjoyed the complexity of the story and the unraveling of the plot. Felt like the final reveal could have had more time, so that bit fell a bit flat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Mental illness and Body shaming

Minor: Abortion and Medical content

doodlebeanz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I haven’t read a domestic thriller in a while & this one didn’t disappoint! It was full of tense scenes & moments where I thought ‘what the HELL is going on?!’ Tons of twists & turns that I didn’t see coming! It didn’t keep me up like some others have, so if you’re new to the thriller world, this may be a good starting book for you! 

 

SPOILERS AHEAD: 

 

Instead of focusing on the husband, Richard,

being a total POS who gets off on mentally torturing his wives, this book focuses on the mental effect that sort of abuse has on a person. Unlike other thrillers I’ve read, Richard actually ends up in rehab for his issues & you learn that they stem from his own trauma from childhood. You end up feeling sort of bad for him tbh. In most domestic thrillers, the wife is plotting to kill their husband & it usually ends with them successfully doing so (don’t get me wrong, I love a vengeful woman who goes insane!) but this book took a different route & I really ended up enjoying it more because of that.

 

There were 3 OH SHIT moments where I had to literally drop the book & take a lap BUT the biggest twist of them all was glossed over & kind of left to the reader to hypothesize about… there were a lot of questions about

Richard & his (VERY odd) sister, Maureen, & their childhood… I thought there would be more there, but the whole mystery of his family fell flat which was disappointing. The last twist was unnecessary & I would’ve rather read about Maureen’s weird fixation w/ her brother.

The twist was lackluster at best. 

 

I am much harder on rating thrillers than I am other genres! Because I’ve read so many, it takes a lot to surprise me but this book delivered. But bc of a big part of the plot going unexplained, it went from a 4.5 to a 3.5 for me. BUT that all being said, this book was entertaining & anyone who is into domestic thrillers should go grab a copy! 

For anyone who is sensitive about animal harm/abuse in books:

this book does NOT have any graphic animal abuse/death, but there *is* a dog that goes missing suddenly. It's sad, but since you never know what happens to him, you can imagine that he is living his best puppy life elsewhere!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Minor: Violence, Classism, Abortion, and Body shaming

samdalefox's review against another edition

mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

I read this as an audiobook. I find these types of thrillers do well in this format and I enjoyed listening to it. The book is a confident portrayal of a dysfunctional relationship (see the content warnings section for specifics as these could be considered as spoilers but are important to highlight), and the twists were enjoyable even if I did guess one or two - though not all!.

I think two quotes perfectly sum up the sentiments resting behind the story:

Richard: "I thought you could save me from myself". Vanessa to Emma: "A part of you already knows what he's like, who he is."

Take home message: believe women. Have solidarity with women. Work towards dismantling the patirachy and rehabilitating men who have never learned to love or respect themeselves or others.

One further note:

the Duke the dog going missing storyline hit me hard. I was devastated.

.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Medical content, Infertility, Sexual assault, Stalking, Body shaming, and Car accident

dev921's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Abortion, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Cancer, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

willow_belle's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

mags88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

4.75

Twist and turns!
Loved how it came together! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Grief, Suicide, Addiction, Body shaming, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Abortion, Car accident, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Miscarriage, Drug use, and Drug abuse

pookiee's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

this has one of the better portayals of

domestic abuse

in the thriller genre. some parts are more exaggerated than is typical, but I was impressed by the nuances

”he liked to keep her safe, but also to keep her afraid so she’d rely on him” realization and the not-obvious lovebombing and gaslighting

. the fact that it was pretty grounded in reality made me that much more affected and invested in the story. (although there is an unsuccessful attempt to humanize this character that feels out of place since they’re villainized the entire book & undeserving.)

I guessed a big twist from the beginning, but I still think it was a great one—I’m just very skeptical and thriller-brained. plus this book doesn’t depend on its twists, its plot stands on its own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Body shaming, Grief, Infidelity, and Violence

Minor: Abortion, Blood, and Miscarriage

Details of the domestic abuse:

hit in the face, kicked in the ribs, strangled, her hair pulled, collapses, pushed down the stairs

jkar7's review against another edition

dark sad slow-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? Yes

3.5

The twists in the book weren't exactly unpredictable... there were a couple I didnt see coming. The plot was interesting, the way it intertwined, but I felt like the story could have focused more on fleshing out the side characters than what type of wines they drank. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Infidelity, Death, Car accident, Blood, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Classism, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infertility, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Drug use, Ableism, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Alcohol, Stalking, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Car accident, Vomit, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

3.75

This was an enjoyable read, and I think I would try these authors again. They definitely did a great job bringing their voices together. I do like a "dark past" story, but sometimes authors can refer to it too often, which makes the reader feel like screaming "oh my GOSH JUST TELL ME ALREADY," which I felt a teensy bit here. Overall, I was surprised multiple times throughout the book, which is great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Misogyny, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Bullying, and Stalking

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Classism, and Fatphobia