Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

56 reviews

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

1.75

Context: I wish I could remember the review that made me want to read this, I thought it was going to be more mystery and less thriller. 

 

TLDR:  I got hung-up on the foster care stuff, your mileage may vary. 

 

The plotting was pretty tight for the most part with a few plot holes that didn’t matter very much. The central mystery was interesting and fresh. Most plot twists were a surprise. 

 

My main problem came with the characterisation. The foster care system does heavy lifting in explaining Jess and Ben. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if there weren’t some important plot points that for someone somewhat familiar with the system are just plain unbelievable. I don’t know how much experience Ms Foley has had with the system but she might have benefited from an experienced beta reader.It’s rather like a non-Roma writer with a main character who is Roma and not having some Roma readers to advise them on Roma life. Just saying, “oh, they were in foster care so they are like this” is lazy. 

 

The ending felt like Ms Foley found her deadline approaching and her editor wanted a happy ending for all rewrite. Anyone surviving foster care could tell you that there never is a happy ending for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Child abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Bullying, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, and Suicide

the foster care system

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

1.25

...Yet another thriller that I did not enjoy.  It was filled with characters that had one main facet which was being awful.  Would not recommend.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Police brutality, Fatphobia, Abandonment, Violence, Vomit, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexism, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infertility, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, and Suicide

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Violence, Abandonment, Deportation, Sexual content, Suicide, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Stalking

mi_bean's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Gaslighting, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Murder, Addiction, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Self harm, and Drug abuse

katierosecrane's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This book had interesting perspectives through the characters. I liked that the chapters were short and the writing style flowed well through out the book, keep pushing me through the book. The mystery side of things I found a little predictable, but I think the author used that on purpose because while I did predict some things I didn't predict everything that happened in the climax. 

Has Salt Burn vibes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Deportation, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Vomit, Infidelity, Murder, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Stalking, Addiction, Infertility, Gore, Death, Alcohol, Cursing, Police brutality, Blood, Classism, and Outing

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.0

This was fine, thank for it was different then her other two books. I didn’t find anything shocking and was kind of bored for the most part , but it was interesting enough for me to finish. To be honest I would probably skip this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Blood, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Death, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Misogyny

kiwichill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

Many twists and turns which kept me in suspense.  The audiobook is narrated by different people for each character which enhances the experience 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Racism, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cursing, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Domestic abuse, Outing, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Alcoholism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexism, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Vomit, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Excrement, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts

paperkindle's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

chaos_and_chapters's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Violence, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicide, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Blood, Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Stalking, and Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy

davinmotion's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This is my first book by the author. After reading through other reviews and taking the opinion of a friend, I’m surprised I enjoyed this book. I think the “dark” of the house is what intrigued me so much. I enjoy that it all comes together and I’ll admit that I didn’t guess the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

Minor: Police brutality, Cursing, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, and Trafficking