Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Change by Kirsten Miller

14 reviews

sarahflanders's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

amandaboyer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

midwest_to_mountains_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

3.75 stars for me.

There were parts of this book that I really loved: the friendships, the magic interwoven throughout the story, the female comradrie and the suspense. I didn't love the misandrist perspective strongly present throughout the whole story. The idea that ALL men are like the Epstein-esque monsters in the book, was too much for me and I couldn't get past it. I did enjoy the audiobook, January LaVoy did an incredible job narrating this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

artemisia_the_witch's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

4.5

A beautiful book, who reflect quite admirably the experiences of middle-aged women. Some parts are quite horrifying, although it sadly depict nothing but reality (apart from some magic powers we wish we had), and others are powerful, adorable, funny, heartwarming and satisfying. The characters are incredibly well-written, and the story don't miss a beat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Gaslighting

anne_reader's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

rjwadia's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

cazastrophe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

annabelle's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

A good revenge fantasy with a sprinkle of the supernatural. I enjoyed the story as a whole, though I did see the twist coming. I don’t mind that since it was done well. The plot was interesting and the pacing was good considering the length of the book. It didn’t lag anywhere and the story built up well. The characters were compelling, and I was rooting for them to complete their vengeance. 

While there are some magical realism/supernatural elements, so much of the story is realistic in how adults and the systems we have fail vulnerable women. I appreciated how that was a focus of the story and the book stressed how these girls deserve respect. It was definitely a violent book, yet not overindulgent in describing the graphic details of the horrors these young girls experienced which I appreciated.

Some moments did get a little girlboss-y feminism at times, but I don’t think it was too bad overall. I appreciate some unapologetically angry women enacting revenge. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

cheye13's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Yet another book that I don't think was pitched to me correctly. I had heard it was a sort of witchy book about post-menepausal women starting a coven and gaining powers. This is not that, but the only disappointment I have about it is I still want to read that book too.

The synopsis is more accurate than the elevator pitch I got. These are adult women (though I wouldn't call them all "middle age") who always sort of had these magic powers, and are just now beginning to embrace and express them after meeting each other and beginning to uncover a conspiracy. Essentially it is much more a crime/mystery/thriller with a little magic than it is a true paranormal.

This book gave me so much more than I expected, and I truly enjoyed it. It's cathartic, angry, vengeful. Satisfying in every way I wanted from it. It was also terribly sad. There's a lot of heavy, tense, and upsetting memories and flashbacks, and the crimes involved in the conspiracy are abhorrent. I did find myself tearing up more than once. But the book's message is clear and vindicating and never once felt exploitative.

I was genuinely pleasantly surprised by this book; this is what I want whenever I pick up something in the "women killing men" genre but rarely ever hope for. This one finally delivers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

essentially an Epstein revenge fantasy; the story is primarily intended as cathartic, but while the majority of the crimes occur off-page, the story does not shy away from acknowledging their occurrence.

The backbone of the plot is a sex-trafficking ring of billionaire men who kidnap, sexually abuse, and kill teen girls. While these specific crimes are never on-page, the fallout and details of them are included.

Knowing this spoiler does not ruin the story in my opinion. There are unpleasant/criminal police characters, but there is not technically police brutality.

lorahkay's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This book wants to be a feminist thriller but it often misses the mark. It’s clear the author has not confronted her own implicit beauty and size biases… so, while attempting to invoke post-menopausal bad-assery from her main characters, it’s frequently complicated by her seemingly subconscious devaluation of other women at the same time (e.g. one woman was making “bad” food choices; the same woman, abused and bulimic, would be “pretty again” if she addressed her “grey skin” and “thinning hair”; main characters are **worthy** because they work out and keep their bodies fit, and on and on the list goes quietly criticizing the woman in the background). The plot is mildly interesting but also seems to miss the mark. The ending was obvious from miles away. This book fell flat and kinda pissed me off, tbh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Minor: Eating disorder