Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Sadie by Courtney Summers

110 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

4.5

It’s a dark, heartbreaking book with twists I didn’t see coming. I loved the switches from Sadie’s POV to the podcast with West! It’s a unique concept for a novel, which made it even more interesting to read. It took some time to get into the story as the first half was a bit slower and more detailed, especially from Sadie’s chapters. By the second half I flew through the pages, not wanting to put it down.

I think the ending was perfect for this type of story. The pacing overall was also fairly well done, with nothing being rushed or dragged out! There’s a lot of characters so although we only get to really know a few of them, the side characters are still well written. We get enough of a description to picture them but most of them we only get passing glimpses rather than any depth as we take the journey with Sadie. I know I’m going to be thinking about this one for a long time!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Death and Suicide attempt

daisyfont's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Child death, Child abuse, Rape, Death, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Car accident

rhaselpaq's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Abandonment, Addiction, and Blood

violabaldwin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Addiction, Rape, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child death, and Cursing

hypofemmadchen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

I HATE this book. It's a book that slowly drags you down a tunnel that is constantly getting smaller and smaller. By the time you get half way through, the tunnel you are in completely darkness, and you can feel your bones  breaking. By the time you reach the end being squeezed out the tunnel you will be nothing more than a mangled tube of meat, the only positive being the fact that you're able to see the sky again. However what was once the shining bright midday sun, now only a eastern band of gold holding the promise of a new day, but only if you are willing to wait. This is my new favorite book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Gore, Pregnancy, Car accident, Blood, Eating disorder, Alcohol, and Medical content

kennedyslibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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

3.0

Sadie was a decent read; the writing kept you engaged with the alternating narration styles (Sadie's point of view and the podcast episode transcriptions focusing on the investigation of her disappearance). At times, the content was slightly difficult to read but definitely not the worst out there. Some of the characters were more developed than others. Specifically, I thought West's personality could have shown through more but he was not the focus of the story by any means, so that's okay. I was left disappointed with the conclusion (or lack thereof) to the novel, and that contributes majorly to my 3 star rating.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Murder

blue_is_at_sea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Very good book! 
I highly recommend that you listen to the audiobook version of this story. It has great sound design and has multiple voice actors to add to the story. 

It’s absolutely heartbreaking reading about Sadie and her life and what she goes through. It’s amazing and highly recommended. 
It has very dark themes so keep that in mind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Classism, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Addiction

Minor: Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Drug use, Child abuse, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Stalking

michelle_my_belle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Child abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Violence, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Bullying

grays_opinion's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I would recommend Sadie to anyone interested in a gritty, dark revenge novel and can handle the subject matter (more on that later.) I loved how the story was told, with the narration switching back and forth between Sadie and West, a podcaster covering Sadie's disappearance months after she went missing. It definitely helped build suspense and give the reader more information as to what exactly was going on. West in particular has an interesting arc, going from resistant and unwilling to cover Sadie's disappearance to becoming invested not only in her story, but also in the lives of others involved in her life. Sadie herself doesn't actually undergo any character development, but it's definitely not a bad thing; it helps show her determination in her mission and how deeply she is grieving her sister. I didn't necessarily find myself loving West or Sadie either. I definitely didn't hate them (although I didn't like West's initial dismissal of Sadie's story) but I never really found myself loving them. They're both characters on a mission; I found myself more invested in their stories than the characters themselves. As for why I said "it's complicated" when referring to the diversity of the cast, the characters are largely not racially diverse, if that's something you're looking for. Both Sadie and West are LGBTQ+, but that's not a big part of the book (or even a small part of it.) What I'm trying to say is that if you are looking for a book that includes a lot of diversity and has a lot of focus on it, Sadie is not that book.

The reason I gave Sadie 4 stars and not 5 is because of the subject matter of child sexual abuse and pedophilia. It was difficult to process and generally something that I don't like to read about. However, I thought that the topics were handled well and in a sensitive manner. If you choose to read this book, definitely heed any and all content warnings you find.

Overall, Sadie is a really gripping book. I was invested in Sadie and her mission. She and West make for somewhat compelling characters, although the story focuses more on the plot than the characters. It's a very interesting story, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes true crime. This book does kind of have a true crime feel to it, except it's fictional haha. This is a very interesting, but very dark book; a good read overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Sexual abuse of children is an important detail in this book, and it is heavily implied/confirmed throughout the story. Please please please sit this book out if you are triggered by that. If you choose to read the book anyways, please note that the content can be disturbing.

stevie02's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Alcoholism