Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain

25 reviews

siennabea's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I think this book was good, I just wish it had a bit more description on who the characters actually were. 
It dealed with grief okay, but the last few chapters where it all came together was truly my favourite part.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Child death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Blood

laylareadsthings's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

This is a tough one to review for me. I really enjoyed the writers style, and her descriptions, the ambience she creates is stunning. I will definitely keep an eye out for more works from her. 

Unfortunately, the plot was so incredibly slow moving I had a hard time getting through this. It’s tagged as a murder mystery, but there is nothing to unfold here. There are no hints given along the way, no way for the reader to resolve what’s happening or form theories. For about 350 pages, it felt like a hamster wheel of continuous conversations where nothing was revealed, and no action was taken. Everyone wants to solve the crime! But absolutely no one, not a single person is willing to have even the remotest hint of a conversation about it. The main character spends the entirety of the book fixated on and frustrated by her inability to solve the murder, but literally ANY time she discovers a clue, or needs to ask someone something she just… doesn’t. Instead it’s more inner monologue about how upset she is that she can’t solve the crime. 

Again, I think the backdrop and atmosphere were quite literally perfect - but the plot and character development was so flat for me, I really had to stop myself from DNFing multiple times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Domestic abuse

beckyremillard's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

hollyheartless's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I have very mixed feelings about this book. This is quite fast paced and I was very hooked on finding out what happened. Part of me loves the dark atmosphere and the absolute rollercoaster I was on in trying to solve the mystery I did not trust any of these characters apart from MC Grey. The history of the characters and world building was clearly really thought out and clear while reading. There are some very clever snippets of writing using small visions of text to build a whole scene which I thought was brilliant!! However, I will say I didn’t feel fully satisfied with the ending of the book as a whole in the epilogue, I feel like I have a lot of questions still unanswered. Also there are a lot of triggers with this book, including child death, abuse, alcoholism and brief mentions of self harm. It is a dark and more mature book, one that I would read again but I wouldn’t be in any rush to 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Gore, Murder, and Vomit

Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Cancer, and Fire/Fire injury

jadehusdanhicks'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Truly shocked by how much I wound up enjoying this book. Nothing was predictable and each twist shocked me more than the last. 

Harts tempted should’ve been a dead giveaway but knowing the summer 10 had lost three before adulthood allowed the reader to excuse it as grief. He shouldn’t have kept the secrets he did, but even then he was not the worst … no one could’ve seen Evie’s plot twist coming. 

I fell for her being the victim, haunted both literally and by grief for those of their group who passed. Finding out it was her literally being haunted by guilt and by Elora for killing her left my jaw on the floor.

Overall, I loved the magical aspect of all these psychic abilities those in  La Cachette had. The intrigue that followed decades of murders, guilt and lies. Ginny is a beyond talented author, truly having my heart beat for all the

summer 12

while I devoured this book whole. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Alcohol, Violence, Death, Toxic friendship, Child death, Abandonment, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, and Murder

kitfkat's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Violence

laneysix's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

kate_17's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This book had an interesting way of foreshadowing that added a whole new layer of mystery to the story. Great story telling, in my opinion, as well. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Gore and Child abuse

This is still ya or even teen read but there are some descriptions of dead bodies.

the_first_lines's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

Graphic: Misogyny and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Incest, Child death, Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

samanthaannecompton's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

2.0

at first i gave this four stars. after letting it digest, i realised that i didn’t actually like the story. i liked the moody atmosphere created. the main character was a pushover (but same) and her relationship with elora AND zane was never actually developed. it was all very surface level.

i also hated the incest plot. it was gross and unnecessary. they were raised together since they were kids which makes it unstomach-able

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Incest