Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - The Ophelia Girls

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Ophelia Girls by Jane Healey

24 reviews

angrybookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

I was honestly a little disappointed by this book. I really liked the concept but it took me a longggggg time to care about the characters at all. I felt like I couldn't relate to either of them very much until about halfway through the book. A lot of Maeve's character felt like it was made more complicated than it needed to be for these things to happen. I have no idea why her having been ill as a child was important to her story at all. I hated Stuart from the very first time he was mentioned and I was right. I wish the ending was more satisfying because once we got into the very real complications of these characters and I started to think they were interesting, they just wrapped everything up and everything was "okay" in the end without anyone actually doing anything to get there. I do think it's a good book, I just wanted more out of these characters because I think they deserved it.

I also really think they should have drowned Stuart in the river at the end. It would have been satisfying

Though, I do wonder if maybe the reason the ending wasn't satisyfing is because it was a realistic ending. That is kind of how those things tend to go and I think a lot of my wishing is that I was in Maeve's position once and I wish someone had

DROWNED HIM

instead of just not doing anything about it really. The mom deserved better, too. Stuart deserved worse.

Content Warnings

cole_louise's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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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236girls's review against another edition

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dark hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.75

oh jeez oh where do i begin... i loved the writing! it was beautiful and atmospheric but oh i wish so badly this leaned towards the queer ladies more than the grooming but both parts were written well so i didn't like. HATE reading it but some parts were more hard to stomach than others.

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eleanor_rose22's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad fast-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? Yes

2.0

I’ve got really mixed views. I wanted to love this so much and I spent so much time hating it.
I loved Ruth, I loved her playful girlhood and frivolous youth and her feelings towards Camille and the way her repressed identity haunts her until she can be free. I wanted/needed so much better for her.
Maeve?!? Pure Hate. The fact she was half the book was awful. Her boyfriend is a nonce, predator. I was furious how their relationship was mirrored to the ‘forbidden’ queer feelings of R&C. The pedophilia was so romanticised and disgusting. Hated the ending.
Gave me so much to think about in terms of male gaze/enforced objectivity of ones self through a camera etc. But plot wise it did not live up to expectations .
Also why did it have all my most obscure triggers in.

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olivia02strom's review against another edition

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2.0

Wish I was aware of the heavy grooming plot line ahead of time...

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rcsreads's review

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dark medium-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? Yes

1.5

A large part of this is just paedophile porn. There's no need for the inappropriate relationship to be gone into with so much detail.
The mother's side of the story would have been enough although it has some unpleasant, outdated and homophobic opinions expressed. The daughters story is actively disgusting and romanticised paedophilia.

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