Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Hideaway by Penelope Douglas

13 reviews

chels984's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Grief, Incest, Murder, Gaslighting, Violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Addiction

Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment

shayrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

Hideaway is the 2nd book in the Devil's Night series and you do want to read the 1st book 1st so you have the history this story builds on. 

This book is focused on Kai and his love interest, Banks. Each of the 4 MMCs in this series are coming to terms with the crimes that sent 3 of them to prison, the imprisonment and the events following their return to normal life. But Kai has another secret that he is trying to protect. Banks is the only one who can help them find the one estranged MMC and the one who knows the secret.

It becomes a cat and mouse game to see who can outsmart who and get the upper hand. All while Banks and Kai are steadily drawn together. He knows she has secrets of her own and she has made it clear her loyalty is to the other MMC. 

Penelope Douglas keeps you guessing throughout the book as to what will happen next. The story is also told through flashbacks of memories of from both Kai and Banks to reveal more of the story and motivations for each character.

There is good chemistry between our characters and I love the spice. The seduction leading to the spice raises the heat level 🥵

One of my favorite side characters is Alex. I love a woman, who is not afraid to go for what she wants and make absolutely no apologies for it!

I listened to this book performed by Tatiana Sokolov and Jeremy York. Both performers were able to bring me into the story and provide different voices for the characters. This is so important when listening so you don't get confused as to who is speaking when. My only issue is Jeremy doesn't have a good voice for female characters. (I guess he's too manly 😉)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Animal cruelty, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Alcoholism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Child abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

booklloveer101's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Confinement, Cursing, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

readsbyjeann's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Violence, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

bigbookslay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

KAI AND BANKS ARE THE LOML

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Incest, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Misogyny, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Domestic abuse

dkgreads's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

3.0

For a book that’s supposed to be about Kai, it sure seemed like it was more about Damon than anything. It was also really sloooooooow. And there was, like, ZERO chemistry between Kai and Banks. This one didn’t really do it for me. On to the next I guess…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Death of parent, Rape, Self harm, Pedophilia, and Animal cruelty

curicastic's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

THIS WAS A JOURNEY, PEOPLEEEEEEEEEE. 

PSA: This is a dark book and I went into it knowing that. They're not my fave books but I read them once in a while.

I  liked this one. Kai Mori is more balanced than Michael (First Book), and so he had more interesting feature instead of JUST being an asshole. 

And Can we talk about Nikova Banks? Girl... I need to take you to therapy YESTERDAY. I felt awful for her the whole book. Damon is a piece of shit. 

I sense a Penelope Douglas pattern here... this book could've been 100 pages less. The mystery wasn't really misterious, I'm beginning to think that Douglas is just a little too in love with her ideas and repeats them a lot. It's still good, but I think it'd be a stronger book if it was filtered (not the evil/fucked up stuff, but the editing standpoint where you don't overstretch your scenes and plot devices.).

For Example, Banks being Damon's daughter was an interesting fact... for the first few dozen scenes. But when you freaking pull it until the (almost) whole book? It gets repetitive and low key boring. Michael not telling him? Weird.

I'm honestly worried about book 3... I don't think I can like Damon after all he's done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Addiction

jen1804's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this book, though not as much as book 1 in the Devil’s Night series. The story for me this book felt just that little bit too chaotic. I don’t really know how to explain. But on the whole I really liked it. There were some scenes that I absolutely adored too (confessional scenes/father Kai scenes/chase scenes, all defo big yesses from me).
I like Kai and Banks together and their dynamic where they’re both so stubborn, and with the forced proximity trope and the power play. Though I find I’m left feeling that their love story was lacking somewhat. I can’t really pinpoint it, I kinda feel like it all happened too quickly even though it probably actually didn’t, but having finished the book that’s the feeling I’m left with. I also feel that their emotions were a bit too up and down with each other a bit too often, too much so that it started to seem a bit too unrealistic. Anyway I look forward to hearing a bit more about them in future books in the series and how their story continues to unfold and progress.
It was interesting to uncover more of the sad complexities about Damon in this book and I’m really looking forward to reading his story next even if it is probably going to hurt. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Incest, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Confinement, Death, Abandonment, and Mental illness

coligmueller's review against another edition

4.5

I am shocked at how much better this one is than the first. Kai still has issues with misogyny, but not nearly as bad as Michael or Damon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Lesbophobia and Gun violence

ka_ke's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Hideaway’s plot was better than Corrupt’s but only after the halfway point. The spice was better too, more adventurous. I do feel sorry for Damon, even if he’s fictional, no one deserves that kind of torture. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent