Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

67 reviews

zarakoconnor's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Amazing thriller. Could not stop reading. Made a fantastic audiobook. Story was twisty and dark and the perfect amount of fiction and commentary on feminism and gender roles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Misogyny, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Blood, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Torture

aesa1993's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

tealightfultomes's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Ashley Winstead's writing style is gorgeous - she could write about paint drying and somehow make it sound intriguing and beautiful.

I have mixed feelings about this book; I enjoyed seeing how the story would unfold and the twist did surprise me, but I did have to suspend my disbelief a lot for the cult side of things. I could sort of see how it would happen, but

the girls seemed to get very heavily brainwashed over a short space of time and I found it hard to believe that Clem wouldn't have ran away sooner

.

I felt sad that Clem wasn't in the story more too, she was an interesting character and I think she would have made the main story a lot more gripping if

she'd had input in Shay's investigations and infiltration of the Paters.

The themes of the story are super important and I think they address a lot of very real problems with uni/college culture; it was a good read and I found myself unable to put this one down quite a few times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Self harm, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, and Suicide

riverrliam's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

This book was like a train wreck… horrific but I couldn’t look away. This book is DARK and full of abuse, misogyny, and trauma turned kink. Definitely a book you need to be prepared for. I found it exhilarating and scary and chaotic and sexy and tense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Blood, Torture, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Murder, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent and Drug use

kayleighoneillonwheels's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Infidelity, Murder, Misogyny, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Blood, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Pedophilia

bxcvi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexism, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Blood and Death

Minor: Alcohol

elderwoodreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a really unique read for me and I really enjoyed it! I highly recommend reading the TWs before embarking because the content definitely shocked me having only read the description. Winstead did a great job of building tension and tying together all the different parts of the story. My biggest complaint is

the trope of "I can't hurt the bad guys" from the MC after Nicole's death in the woods but then somehow she's just fine axing the Don in the head? I personally camt stand the "I won't stoop to their level/can't hurt them" trope but especially paired with the ending it was odd. I would have liked the ending much better if the scene in the woods went differently.

 

Also, I've started to get annoyed with the trend of unique inserts between chapters but I really loved the podcast interview inserts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Alcohol, and Rape

Minor: Trafficking and Incest

annagerman's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Ok so this was fun (for me at least 😅😅).
I set out to find me a deliciously dark read, and boy did this deliver! 
It was a super fast-paced and well-structured psychological thriller. I finished this in three seatings (and would have finished it quicker if real life didn't interfere 🙄).

Bear in mind that this is in no way a realistic representation of rape, cults, secretive organizations or investigative journalism 😅😅 you will have to spend your disbelief quite a lot to buy into it.
Also I had some issues with the characters, mainly the MC - we are told many things of her past and upbringing that sometimes don't fully line with her behavior. And also unfortunetly and kinda sadly - Don lacked any charisma whatsoever 😅 But they were mostly minor issues that I could easily put aside

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Confinement, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Rape, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Rape and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent

momsmagicreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Murder, Sexism, Suicide, and Misogyny

Moderate: Fatphobia, Grief, Blood, and Dysphoria

sjmomaney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Trafficking, Violence, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Torture, Body horror, Death of parent, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, and Sexual harassment