Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

11 reviews

savreads28's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Medical content, Cursing, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, Gore, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Violence

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Fun and fast-paced retelling of Jane Eyre. Good beach read or palate cleanser for heavier novels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Sexism, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Murder, Vomit, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Violence, Alcoholism, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, and Mental illness

annegoodreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins was definitely better than Jane Eyre for me.  It is set in 

Birmingham, Alabama, and described as gothic Southern fiction.  I didn’t find it gothic in any way (there wasn’t a single ghost 🤣).  The characters were all so good though.  Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates trying to make enough just to move out of her “friend” John’s 700 sq ft apartment.  On a walk, she meets one of the residents of Thornfield Estates named Eddie Rochester.  Eddie’s wife Bea recently died in a boating accident.  Bea’s “best friend” also died in the accident.    Jane and Eddie hit it off right away and before long she moves in.  She befriends all of Bea’s friends in the neighborhood.  While some of the neighborhood girls are quite superficial, most are well-meaning.  Occurrences increasingly raise Jane’s suspicions and luckily she has street smarts.  The ending to this was so good.  It was kind of predictable but so satisfying.  I can’t wait to read Rachel Hawkin’s newest Reckless Girls.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Sexism

gbonnette's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Violence

fionac326's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual content, and Confinement

esmescuppabook's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

I liked the idea of the plot but it could've given something better. The ending was disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

liblibby's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

It’s like Jane Eyre meets Gone Girl. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

gwendolyn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

emeraldelephant's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Death

thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

I love Jane Eyre and I thoroughly enjoyed all the references and nods to that classic peppered throughout this story. That being said, this is definitely not Jane Eyre, and I think if you don’t like JE, you will enjoy this take on it!

The plot moved quickly and kept me interested. For the first half, I was thinking, “I know exactly where this story is going!” and then the second half I was just like “I was wrong—I know nothing.” This book had some good twists that I imagine most people who read thrillers will enjoy.

As for characters, this is another one with mostly unlikable people making questionable decisions. Not a ton of development either. I think for me, when I read a thriller like this, I do enjoy it, but I tend to give them lower ratings because the characters don’t usually change a lot and I’m never sure what my takeaway from the book is.

So I did enjoy listening to this (there are a few different narrators and that made the audio extra good!) and it was entertaining, but if I want the Jane Eyre story in the future, I’m going to stick with rereading the original.

Thank you so much to Libro.fm, Macmillan Audio, and the author for this ALC!

Read if you like: unreliable narrators, Southern settings, rags-to-riches stories, mysterious disappearances.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Violence