Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

22 reviews

ainrosle's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

If I were to judge this book based on the last third of it, then yes, it would have received high stars. The last few chapters of the book was exactly what I had expected out of the book. The first 2-third of the book is just something you can skim over. Nothing worth noting, nothing memorable. 

It was very slow, the characters aren't loveable and it's so frustrating because it could have been a 5 stars book. I had the wrong expectation of the book going in, thinking it was more of a thriller but really more of a suspense, mystery and paranormal element to it. It does require a suspension of disbelief (a lot of it), which I am generally fine with if it had been executed flawlessly. 

It's just a book with forgettable plot because... there was nothing to remember in the first place...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Mental illness, and Infidelity

Moderate: Body shaming and Death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

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

lizziej96'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, Abortion, Miscarriage, and Death

anne311's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

man

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Violence, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming and Body horror

Minor: Abortion

beckyremillard'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? No

3.75

I thought I was just reading a normal marriage thriller but it’s not what you’d expect. 

Body switching? Definitely wasn’t expecting that but also not the type of book I was trying to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Animal cruelty

lilysaddler's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Animal death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Cursing

Moderate: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, Death, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Addiction, Death of parent, Abortion, Body shaming, and Alcoholism

Minor: Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content

katrinasherise's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gaslighting, Body shaming, Drug use, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Drug abuse

Minor: Death, Abortion, and Death of parent

mikmocha's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

0.25

I was incredibly disappointed by this book…

The beginning was great, I was captured by the story and kept wanting to dive deeper in. There was a lot of fatphobia going on in the first 95% of the book. 

But the ending….WTF was that??? The book quite literally could have ended with Adele switching bodies with Louise and that be that. Rob could have remained as a side character and his murder be the reason why Adele would want to switch into Louise’s body- to absolve David of any crime, a fresh start for Adele in Louise’s body and refocus on their relationship. 

But no, in the last couple of pages the only gay character (which we don’t find that fact out until the very end) is now the villain??? Who not only killed actual Adele, killed actual Louise but is now also planning on killing Louise’s child?? Wtf? This is feeding into a lot of homophobic tropes that are quite damaging and harmful. 

I would not suggest this book and I’m not reading more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

abbs15norm's review against another edition

mysterious 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: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, and Toxic friendship

bookishandlegal's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was super gripping and I was intrigued the whole time. The buildup to the end was good and kept me engaged throughout. The story line was interesting and piecing together what was happening through alternating POVs between the two main characters and between the past and present worked really well. One big thing that I didn’t like was the constant emphasis and shaming over Louise’s weight. She’s described around a size 12, probably, which is a very average size but is constantly referred to as fat and heavy and talked about how much better she’ll look when she’s lost a few pounds. None of this set right with me and it seemed wholly unnecessary. There was also a few graphic instances of animal abuse that seemed totally unnecessary. 

I also didn’t really care for the ending. It honestly just didn’t make sense. I know very little/almost nothing about lucid dreaming but having to suspend belief and buy that a person switched bodies with two different people throughout their lifetime by lucid dreaming was too much for me. I somewhat enjoyed the twist that Adele had really been Rob the whole time, but it’s all just a bit too much for me to buy and made the book seem kinda hookey and idk, just weird. Maybe I’m totally missing something with lucid dreaming but this just seemed too far fetched for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcoholism, Addiction, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Mental illness

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