Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman

11 reviews

soobooksalot's review

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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Death of parent, Murder, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion

chelle22's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Deadnaming, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Abortion

javafenn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Catherine Steadman is an author that is have unwittingly gravitated towards. I love her slow burn suspense and her narration is spectacular! The fact that she narrates her own books is kind of what draws me to her. I also really love that her stories involve a lot of mystery without being TOO mysterious and the main character doesn’t seem unreliable. In this story, Harriet (Harry) Reed is getting married into one of America’s most wealthy families. Her future husband, Edward, seems to have steered clear of them for several years because, he claims, they are overbearing and he implies they are scary. She joins Edward to visit his family for Thanksgiving where she meets the patriarch, a handsome, powerful man who immediately seems to read Harriet from the moment he sees her. That first dinner together proves to be the spark that ignites the fire of this off putting family and Harriet. As she finds out, everyone has secrets and those secrets can be used against you. I loved not knowing who was good and who was bad and I also loved how it ended, I just wish *blank* wasn’t the bad one. Also, the hard use of the word “cunt” towards the end was so fantastically wonderful and appropriate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide, Vomit, Alcohol, and Abortion

Minor: Cursing, Abortion, and Drug abuse

marissa_mace's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Mental illness, and Suicide

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Stalking, Pregnancy, Abortion, Grief, and Alcohol

kaseymkelley's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Murder

Moderate: Suicide and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism

bookishgoob's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Suicide, Violence, Car accident, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Suicide, Vomit, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Violence

becca9849's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Classism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Addiction, Abortion, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexism, Gore, Miscarriage, Grief, and Toxic relationship

thespinystacks's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.0

I went into this suspicious of it being a rip off of Ready or Not, and it kind of was. A cheaper rip off. It was fun and twisty but you have to acknowledge there’s no real explanation for why this rich white family is obsessed with tormenting each other.

If you can get past that then it’s a good read. I just couldn’t exactly let it go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

Minor: Car accident and Suicide

blackcatkai's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

CW: death, blood, pregnancy, gaslighting, mentions of abortion, ableism, suicide, alcohol & drug use, death of a parent/sibling, violence, toxic relationships, gun violence, classism, murder, gaslighting

So there were aspects of this that I did enjoy, but overall it was an absolute miss for me. I do find myself interested in any other books Steadman puts out, though.

the book blurb makes it sound like the movie Ready or Not and it really isn't. the only similarities are rich people have weird drama & traditions & the MC is meeting them all for the first time. the MC listens to a tape she's given over time instead of right away and though the first time she stops it part way through was believable to me, not after that. so many things could've been dealt with sooner if she had just not waited and it really just helped the book drag. leaving out info to have a twist or something later is just a thing that bugs me, especially if not done well. which this felt like.

and the ending totally took me out of it. I liked the climax part when the game takes a turn, but afterwards made me roll my eyes so hard, just not for me. a few entertaining bits does not make me invested and this missed me. so....yea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Classism, Death, Murder, Violence, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Blood, Alcohol, and Drug use

Moderate: Suicide and Ableism

Minor: Abortion