Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

39 reviews

rockin_robyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Animal death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Fatphobia

jessw17's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Stalking

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Abortion, Sexual content, and Confinement

thecatsmum's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.75

After coincidentally running into and snogging the man who turns out to be her new boss, single mother Louise has an affair with him, and begins an unlikely friendship with his wife. This story is told mostly in alternating Louise and Adele (the wife) POV chapters as the story unfolds.

Honestly, I think it would have been a better book if it was mostly told from Louise's POV for the first half to three quarters of the book or if Pinborough handled Adele's POV chapters better. It felt like the story lost part of its momentum by allowing the reader to know too much too soon.

A bit into the book I realised I had seen the miniseries that was based on the book a few years ago, and I wasn't impressed by the ending then, and I guess I wasn't now. So, despite the prose feeling decent, there were too many problems for me to rate this higher.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Forced institutionalization

hopevigilshuck's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Bullying, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Suicide attempt

mzynda's review against another edition

mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Animal death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Infidelity

ssarahbbeth's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Sexual content, Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Animal death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion

ashleymg99's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Holy. Shit. The ending. Everyone says the last 20 pages are crazy and my god, are they right. The payoff is insane. 

I literally got to the last few chapters and I went “ah I know where this is going”. No the fuck you don’t. You think you do, but you absolutely do not. 

All I can say is this book is crazy - between 2 unreliable narrators, time jumps, and secrets, it leaves you guessing until the end. The twist is unexpected in the best way, because it takes everything you thought you knew and turns it on its head. The ending bumps my star rating from like a 3 to a 3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Death, Alcohol, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Body shaming

sophmcgraw's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abortion

lindseyrenee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The first half to 2/3 was pretty slow and seemed like a dramatic soap opera with all the affairs and weird relationships. When the pace started to pick up though, I was completely hooked and needed to know answers to all my questions! The ending was one that I would have never guessed. I thought I had it nailed down with the second to last chapter and then the last one swooped in and shocked me even more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Stalking, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

Moderate: Drug use and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

3.25

Honestly this was entertaining but it was also kind of boring at the same time. Nothing thrilling really happened so I kept wondering like what was gonna happen and what was the point. But the ending I did not see coming at all and I was shocked. I don’t know if I necessarily like it but I didn’t see it coming so there’s that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Abortion, Murder, and Stalking