Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

10 reviews

monicabach's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

What a ride! Loved it. Couldn’t put it down. I like the author’s writing style.

Content warnings: implied sex, nothing graphic; infrequent cursing, no F bombs; violence is not graphic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Infidelity, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Suicide

jennabeck13's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

Genre: Thriller

About 370 pages 

When you’ve been with a romantic partner for a while, it can be hard to keep things fresh. Some couples decide they need more date nights, to spice things up in the bedroom, etc., but Millicent and her husband keep things fresh by selecting women to murder. You heard that right… This couple has killed several women and gotten away with it. But in order to keep it going, they need to set up a fall guy. In an attempt to do so, they create a media frenzy like never before that is now affecting their children. With things not going as planned, they must choose between their kids and their favorite “pastime”.

WHAT DID I JUST READ? This book was CRAZY and I could not put it down. The two main characters are disturbing and diabolical. I disliked them as humans but at the same time couldn’t get enough of them. There was a ton of dark humor that landed perfectly and enhanced the storytelling. I don’t want to go into more detail for fear of spoiling things but if you haven’t read this already, ADD IT TO YOUR TBR.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Mental illness, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Car accident

sadiereads72's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

A quick read with a plot that keeps you guessing. Was hard to get into because of the narrator being a straight guy but it was interesting to read a dark, serial-killer novel where the murderer is a woman. The last quarter of the book was thrilling but felt incredibly fast compared to the rest of the plot, this was probably intentional to convey the narrators feelings. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

chellebell048's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Medical content

jaydub0221's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Torture, and Gore

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Car accident, Dementia, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Vomit, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

nkg202's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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: Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Death of parent, and Infidelity

katiea714's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Torture, Death, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Deadnaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Bullying, Alcohol, Car accident, Chronic illness, Classism, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol and Vomit

bootsmom3's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, and Gun violence

aleesquer's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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

3.75

Man: I love my wife so much she's so cool and sexy and I would murder people to see her smile
Anyone: so you would be honest to her about like. Basic things then?
Man: no ❤

Pros:

• the characters actually have to deal with being parents, rather than just having kids be in the background
• the relationship between Unnamed Man and Millicent is unexpected and really interesting
• less gore than I expected (this could also be a con, I guess, it depends on the reader)

Cons:

• miscommunication is way too common for it not to be annoying
  Bro, you and your wife kill people together. Would it hurt you to be honest about your credit card payments??
• I didn't actually like the ending? Yes, M is a bad person, obviously, but she clearly wanted the whole "2.5 kids picket fence" thing. Why would she mess that up on purpose? I get her throwing Unnamed Man under the bus to save her skin, but poisoning her kid?
• Unnamed Man cheating seems stupid when 1- it is almost certain she would find out, which he knows, and 2- he's head over heels in love with his wife (which is actually one of the things I enjoyed most about the book)
• Not enough info on Holly, imo

All in all, an enjoyable read! The dynamic between the two main characters was really interesting, and I'm excited to see what Samantha Downing writes in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Dementia, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Alcohol

alexandriasreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

I haven’t binge read a book this long in quite a while. It was so hard to put down! Every time I thought I knew what was coming next, it took a different turn.
I do wish the resolution was a bit better, or maybe just longer, it seemed the set up took precedence. I did enjoy that last line, truly came full circle! Overall, pretty fun read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Suicide

Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent