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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Gun violence, Alcoholism, Murder, Alcohol, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Medical content
Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Child death
Minor: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Car accident, and Sexual assault
bookishgoob's review against another edition
1.0
DNF’D AT 42% HALFWAY THROUGH CHAPTER 21.
There is so much i want to say about this book from the little i read but i’ll just leave it at this.
too much description on things that don’t matter, what feels like it should be adding ambiance actually feels like too much information about things i couldn’t care less about.
it’s really weird what the author chooses to elaborate on and describe. for instance in chapter 14 she elaborates on a phone call between shea and michael about a cat her neighbor dumped on her doorstep, and that’s the bulk of the conversation, but the conversation also implies they had a previous conversation about finding someone to interview and the name changes. to me that seems like a conversation that is more important to elaborate than one about if she should keep a cat or not. this “relationship” kind of reminds me of when reid had a girl friend that her only talked to on the phone in criminal minds. it feels like she’s trying to set up a relationship between these two characters but it is so unimportant, especially with how short the book is. why have a romance subplot?
in chapter twenty one, shea is having a drink with michael for the first time and he’s telling her about his job. he says “i’m mostly in insurance work. taking pictures of people who claim they’re in chronic pain while they lift furniture or go water skiing” I AM SO ANGRY???? that is absolutely disgusting to say. like chronic pain has intensities. I have chronic pain and i love with it every day, but some days i have more energy and less pain and i’m able to do bigger projects. chronic pain doesn’t mean no activity and it doesn’t mean not having fun. what a terrible and awful thing to read. i feel so disheartened and unheard as a person with chronic pain. how dare this author write something like that? this is one of many things it doesn’t seem like she understands. there has been so many things that i’ve said “not how that works but okay” to myself through the course of reading this. it feels like this author thinks up something and makes it true. i’m done with this book. it’s uninteresting, slow, boring, and full of misinformation. If you’re going to write a fiction book, not everything obviously has to be real, but there are somethings, especially if you’re placing your characters in the “real world” that you have to get right or it just sounds dumb. idk. i had been bored with this most of the way through and the chronic pain part really pissed me off. on top of that, she repeats things way too often in the same paragraphs and chapters and it’s like “wait didn’t you just say this?“ i’m finding it hard to understand how so many people rated this 5 stars. I am disappointed that I wasted my time with this book and i’m disheartened at the way this author talked about certain things. I have the sun down motel on my tbr and i’m debating on if it’s even worth it to read. I hate read many authors so it’s saying something that I cant even get through this book.
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Infertility, Murder, Car accident, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, and Blood
kshertz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Police brutality, Car accident, Confinement, Drug use, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, Pedophilia, and Medical content
shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Car accident, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Mental illness
taelights's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The first half of the book started out so strong. The mystery of the lady killer case mixed in with the creepy paranormal elements had so much potential. But the mystery was solved at literally 50% which was way too easy. After I reached 63% I was like please just end the book because it was so boring after that point.
Honestly the book should have either been much shorter. Most of the second half was just boring and felt repetitive as if the author was trying to reach some type of word count/story length goal rather than actually tell the story.
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Murder
paisleypetty's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Blood, Cursing, Pedophilia, Violence, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Confinement, Child death, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Car accident
Minor: Classism, Miscarriage, Medical content, Infertility, and Pregnancy