Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Lovely and the Lost

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

3 reviews

aduchene's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

So so good. But first if books with dogs are your thing unless they are harmed or die, don’t read this.

Living in Kira’s mind throughout the story was a trip and made it dark and emotional but so good. I enjoyed her family and how they got on. I loved the search and rescue aspect, because DOGS THAT HAVE PURPOSE AND INTELLIGENCE ARE GOALS.

As things developed, I just found myself unable to put the book down and wanting to read more about Kira after it wrapped up.

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jeaniedew's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I love JLB and own most of her books, but she has a tendency to write amazing ideas and then leave the ending wanting for just a bit more closure. Doesn't feel quite like a happy ending, which is why the lesser rating.

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starryorbit12's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Jennifer Lynn Barnes has several higher education degrees in psychology and teaches it as well. I think books like this shine because of that element. Barnes knowledge of psychology really showed in how Kira's trauma is portrayed as well as struggles with social cues and attachment because it. It one of the few portrayal of repressed memories that felt realistic. Kira doesn't have these vivid, long flashbacks that build a timeline of her time in the woods. She gets scattered snippets that are hard to place and triggered by the events around her. She struggles to pull herself out of her past. Despite having been young when she was rescued and living more of her life in society that fighting for survival, she still feels like she doesn't belong. Her mind was so fascinating to be in, and it's refreshing when characters that go through trauma get to be effected by it and shown trying to cope. YA novels have a pattern of ignoring how traumatized their characters should be by the things they put them through. The family dynamic was interesting and complicated from all sides. Some parts with the Circle of the Lost and why it mattered to

Ness and why she buried the bodies at one were confusing. She said she was bring them home by taking and burying the bodies she found in the forest, but you think she would have taken then to the police. Her motives is that she was desperate for answers about her son, and she believed that their was more to mission her disappeared on than Cady or Mac said. Everything she did was to bring them back and corner and confront them. Shouldn't she wants the bodies found some their families can get the same answer she wanted?

I like Gabriel, and I think his brother was good subplot to intersect with the main mystery. You could never be quite sure how much his disappearance connected with others.

As for the plot, it's engaging and has a lot for the elements I liked for the Naturals series. It did have element I have noticed in Barnes books that I don't like. It's the need for everything to connect to something in the plot. I noticed this in the second Debutantes book and last Naturals book. Everything had to have some sort of connection, typically to the main character. In this book, it's John Ashby and the plot twist at the end. Apparently, he turned back on this mission for no reason that Cady or Mac could discern in a completely different country. The only explanation is that both him in Mac loved Cady, and he became more thrill seeking when he found out Cady was pregnant. He just disappears with no trace. However, he apparently survived despite being actively shot at. Some reason never said anything to anyone. Somehow had involvement in finding Kira and bringing Saskia to Cady as well. He's apparently just living off the grid pretending to MIA presumed dead. He couldn't bother to fake his death enough to give his mom closure. Why? Frankly, it would have made more sense it he got himself killed because he was too reckless. Barnes tends to make her connections and plot twist feel like soap opera because of this. This works in books like The Debutantes series because those books are meant encapsulate the family drama you see in soap operas. It's a detraction here because this is thriller with a much more serious tone. I get wanting to set up a potential sequel, but we still don't know the full story with Gabriel's brother. That's enough for a sequel. Instead, we get this out of left field ending that Kira's bluff was maybe not a bluff.

The side characters felt real, and I liked them well enough. Although, Free felt a bit underdeveloped. She didn't do much and her families disconcern with her was only hinted at. It felt like you could have taken her out and had the same story. She was fun but not necessary. The town also felt empty. While the characters we saw were dynamic, the setting itself felt empty.

Overall, it had better execution of an interesting concept that Nobody. It had much of the character dynamic and psychological exploration that I like about the Natural's series. It fell some with soap opera like ending that felt like it belonged in a different genre. I could definitely see myself picking up a sequel or re-reading this though.

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