Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

70 reviews

taylormoore's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

karalouie's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

steph97's review

mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

thatsssorachael's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

2.0

This book had so much going for it and none of it went anywhere interesting. A thriller should be thrilling but this was not. I normally enjoy Alice Feeney, and I trust her to thrill me with her writing and hairpin twists and turns. Beautiful Ugly lacked in the writing, I found it repetitive and the dialogue was so clunky. The twist was frankly unbelievable and so disappointing. 

Way too much “it was all a dream” and plot holes, not enough suspense and explanation. 

Do not recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism

abbeykay28's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

Literally insane. I have no words to describe my shock everytime I turned the page. Don’t think this book will ever leave my head. Didn't expect any of the plot twists and my brain was going in circles the whole time 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse and Death

sugarplumstories's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Pedophilia

camillerad's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Grief

peggyt's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Abandonment

Minor: Murder

annawinters92's review

dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicide

law_8290's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I give this more than 5 stars. This may be my favorite thriller I have read to date now. This was my first Feeney book but it won't be my last. I am very curious to read her backlist now. The twists in this book, IMO, were NOT predictable. As soon as I thought I had things figured out, she took me on a whole different path which then veered off into yet another. There was even a twist you had to go back through to find. Brilliant 👏. The atmosphere in this book made it even better and fit the plot perfectly and gavebit major spooky vibes. My favorite book of 2025 so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment