Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Change by Kirsten Miller

6 reviews

mandtastic's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

I loved this book. Thriller, mystery, feminine power all wrapped in to one supernatural story. The characters are strong and venerable all at once and the plot is somewhat predictable but still very good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

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

amandaboyer's review

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

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

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

Minor: Eating disorder

bedtimesandbooks's review

dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Racism, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Classism, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug use, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Eating disorder

libertyreads789's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

3.25

Before I get into the review, I want to say a quick thank you to NetGalley and the publishers over at William Morrow & Company for letting me access this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Change is an Adult Fantasy/Mystery/Thriller about a group of women in Mattauk who have discovered magical abilities as a part of their midlife crisis. Those abilities end up putting them on a collision course with the evil that lives in their wealthy beach town. I’ve seen this pitched as Big Little Lies meets The Witches of Eastwick. The Change is out on May 3rd and is available for pre-order now.

There was so much in this story to love and, yet, it fell short for me. I love this beachfront town and all of the wealthy (and not so wealthy) people who live and work there. At first this story really gave me Revenge vibes which I loved and wanted more of. But the story focuses less on the rich people in town and more on the lives of the people who also live and work in this town and have to make it work. There is an ensemble cast of characters who all have their parts to play in this story. My favorite character is probably Jo because she seems the most well rounded character in the story. I feel like I know her a lot better than I know other characters. I love the image of strong women wanting to take back their town after disaster strikes and wanting to prove that women belong here just as much as the men do.

But where this powerful feminist message got lost for me was that it was constantly putting the men down in the first half of the novel. As we learned in the 2010s, that’s not how actual feminism works. Feminist ideology is not about hating men. I also didn’t love the messaging that came across as the women discovered this horrific event. It was seen as: of course this happened. Of course a woman was sexually assaulted and murdered. They’re a woman in a world of men. It was gross and it severely dialed down the horror of seeing what happened to this character. Also, I didn’t appreciate that most of the villains in this story were villains who might one day give a speech outlining all their evil plans while twirling their mustache. Their actions alone would have made me hate them. I don’t then need the author to add another level of evil behavior to make sure I know who’s the bad guy.

The things I enjoyed and really wanted more of were the magic elements and the women pulling together to take care of business. I loved that this was a magical realism story while also having a mystery/thriller element. I love the way the genres were mashed together. But I just found this a little heavy handed.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Stalking, Sexual violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Rape, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Death, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, and Addiction