Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Stora vackra liv by Emily Henry

74 reviews

mcspillsted's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment

mommapajama83's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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: Complicated

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This is my second Emily Henry book and while I really did not enjoy Beach Read, I love this. It was sad and emotional. It was hard to follow the family tree at times, that was a bit difficult. I often tell my sister I wish books would all have the character explanations in the front of the book like the original American Girl books. 

I enjoyed the main love interests and how they actively worked through problems and worked to understand and apologize with each other. Their issues seemed more grounded in logic versus narrative contrivances. They were not able to talk to each other about certain things due to

the NDA's they sign.

They penultimate issue

again being afraid of legal threat and also not telling a love one something like that would destroy the relationship slowly over years.

 

I was also quite moved by the parental relationship with the main female character and her mother. I loathed the mother. She made me so angry.

Then I actually forgave her. Her reasons were not great and she screwed up but they made sense in some way versus actually being apathetic to your child's passions and work.

Margaret and the story she told were so interesting and heartbreaking.

I genuinely convinced myself there would be a happy ending for her. I get upset thinking about how there really wasn't one.

You can have all the money in the world but be barred away from love and happiness by that same money. 

And Julia Wheylan, when she read Margaret in a moment of seething anger, her voice gave me chills. She sounded genuinely scary. She did a great job on the audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment

Minor: Animal death

vintage_papers's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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: Yes

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 Anyone shallow enough claiming that Romance books lack depth should be smacked right on the head by the Hardcover version of this book. Worth it. Absolutely worth it. I not only feel honored but also feel proud of myself for having such great taste in books. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Car accident, Abandonment

metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition

4.0

emotional lighthearted 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Dementia, Car accident, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol

Minor: Murder

bb02's review against another edition

4.75

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I would have loved to read this in dual perspective! But I LOVED this book! Emily Henry is one of my favorite authors, she creates beautifully crafters stories with an intriguing plot. The style of book was slightly different from her usual writing, but it kept me guessing, and trying to put all the pieces together. The ending was unexpected, but tied it all together. It was fantastic! 10/10 recommend

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent

Minor: Car accident, Pregnancy, Abandonment

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

3.5

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Car accident, Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual violence, Abandonment

harleyglynn's review against another edition

4.0

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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I liked this but I didn't love it. I did really enjoy the setting, but I found the romance too quick and was left wondering if their relationship would even work outside of their island bubble. As always, I liked the bookish aspect to it, but I felt it lacked the usual Emily Henry relationship depth. I typically love a historical(ish) fiction romance with dual timelines (honestly it felt a little like a Kristin Hannah novel which is definitely not a bad thing in my opinion!) but I don't know if the story was totally fleshed out for me in either timeline. I wanted more somehow.

Overall, I enjoyed this, but EH sets a high bar with her other books, and I'm not sure this met the mark.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy

flwrchld's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent

Minor: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Abandonment

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

3.25

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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               This book felt like it was trying to be two books at once. It was trying to be a bit of both a literary mystery and a contemporary romance book. The two didn’t weave that well together, however. 

              I hated all the edging the author did with the MC’s sexual relationship. I think she was trying to keep it from being “too spicy” for her readers, but still spicy enough. However, it just got frustrating. I get the building anticipation of them having intercourse, but it just took too long! 

              I liked most of the characters, all the townspeople, Cecil and Margaret especially, though others not as much, looking at you, Alice, and especially her mom, and Theo. 

              Overall, it was a decent book. Mostly, the structure just didn’t work for me. As well as the drawn-out nature of the MCs’ relationship, and their admitting their feelings and desires. 


  

​Narrator Rating:​ 4.75 stars

             I wish they’d gotten someone else to narrate the section of the book that was supposed to be part of the biography. Julia Whelan is wonderful and did an amazing job, however, I feel like having dual narration would have been better for the two intertwined sections of the book. 

Elements 

Heartfelt-💔💔💔 

Horror- N/A

Love aka Romance- 💋 💋 💋 💋 & 1/2

Predictability-🔮 🔮 🔮 

Spice-  🌶  🌶  🌶 

Tear- 😭 & 1/2

Thrill- N/A

Humor- 😜 😜 & 1/2

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Classism

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

akmistyrose's review against another edition

4.75

emotional hopeful 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Minor: Car accident