Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Stora vackra liv by Emily Henry

80 reviews

jeaniemcgarvey's review against another edition

3.25

emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting

kgc8's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny 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: Yes

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Ultimately, this felt more like a literary fiction/woman's fiction book than a romance as the parts that stuck with me were Margaret Ives's story and life. Her tales about her wealthy, scandalous family and how they influenced her life and choices were so interesting that I would have happily read more about them, even if they also made me cry.

Some elements of the book, like the narrative device and the private life of a celebrity, reminded me of the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

The romance between Alice and Hayden took a backseat. While I liked them and their chemistry, so much of the book and page count revolves around Margaret instead of their internal lives. Their sexual tension is well done, and their compatibility is obvious, but it made it harder to develop their growth together from simple caring acts to love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Car accident, Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy

mgclayton's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Slow first three chapters, but part of ending made me cry

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Infidelity, Sexism, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol

ecmo1's review against another edition

3.25

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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About half of this is devoted to the memories of Margaret, an elderly hermit and former paparazzi headliner from a line of uber rich, messy people. Alice and Hayden are journalists who Margaret sets up as potential memoir writers for her story, competing for the chance to author the book. Of course, they fall in love (the other 50% of the story). I thought this was fine, but there were some side character dropped plots and pacing issues that could’ve made it all hang together a little better. It could’ve also used a little more showing and a little less telling, especially in Hayden’s part of the story. There’s a lot of random (past) trauma. Overall, not my favorite or least favorite Emily Henry book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Pregnancy

sbloombe's review against another edition

3.5

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

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Gained half a star at the end even though it was predictable. Not my favorite

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy

merlesstorys's review against another edition

4.5

emotional inspiring lighthearted 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

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I feel a lot of feelings about this book. For once, I read it in German but for most of the book, I listened to the audiobook and that one I really disliked. It felt really slow and dragged a lot without any markings when a new chapter or a history part began.

As soon as I started reading it with my eyes though, I really enjoyed the book again as I always (so far) did with Henry‘s books. 

I really liked Margaret and the mystery surrounding Jodi, her mysterious housekeeper. Alice was a great narrator and main character, and her love story with Hayden was sweet and pretty convincing. 

The history parts were partly my favorites, especially when I started reading the book and started to notice how the names were actually spelled after listening to them (I thought Gerald was spelled Darren ups) and all the plot twists wooing into them were just chefs kiss.

And just for fun, bc the public was comparing them: all in all I like Great Big Beautiful Life a lot more than The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, even though the plot twist in the end was pretty similar. Also The Last Great American Dynasty is my favorite Folklore song, so I was ecstatic when getting to know Henry wrote a book inspired by it and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Dementia, Stalking, Pregnancy

kateywaldhart's review against another edition

4.75

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy

Minor: Suicide attempt

ohsodevine_96's review against another edition

5.0

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Yes

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One of the most beautiful books I've ever read. I already want to read it again. I don't know how Emily Henry does it but het writing gets better and better everytime.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Car accident, Death of parent

kimapede's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Car accident

Moderate: Death, Abandonment

Minor: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy

ahaze134's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder