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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma
Moderate: Ableism, Mental illness
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol
sad
tense
fast-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
dark
mysterious
tense
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:
Complicated
3.5 stars
If you want to feel visceral frustration and anger towards almost every single secondary character's actions then this is the book for you. Very early on in the story Pete and Maddie find out that their son Theo was switched at birth (it's in the blurb) and then spend the rest of the time handling that situation. Which goes terribly wrong like 99.9% of the time with almost everyone set against them. After a while you just kept wondering what else could possibly go wrong, and then yet another thing would happen. It definitely set an anxious/ominous tone, but at the same time it got to be a little overboard towards the end.
However, where things really went wrong for me was how the 'real son' of Pete and Maddie was handled in the book. He is almost completely ignored in the story, and I just felt that was really unrealistic. If I just found out I had a biological child out there somewhere and that the child I thought was mine wasn't actually mine, I would be EQUALLY distraught about both children. Because both children would feel like mine. I would want to know everything about my 'real' child. Instead we just get a book completely focused on Theo.
And then there is the ending, which felt very drawn out and even more unrealistic in how it was solved and resolved.
I still spent most of the book on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next, so I rounded it up to 4 stars despite my reservations regarding the plot.
If you want to feel visceral frustration and anger towards almost every single secondary character's actions then this is the book for you. Very early on in the story Pete and Maddie find out that their son Theo was switched at birth (it's in the blurb) and then spend the rest of the time handling that situation. Which goes terribly wrong like 99.9% of the time with almost everyone set against them. After a while you just kept wondering what else could possibly go wrong, and then yet another thing would happen. It definitely set an anxious/ominous tone, but at the same time it got to be a little overboard towards the end.
However, where things really went wrong for me was how the 'real son' of Pete and Maddie was handled in the book. He is almost completely ignored in the story, and I just felt that was really unrealistic. If I just found out I had a biological child out there somewhere and that the child I thought was mine wasn't actually mine, I would be EQUALLY distraught about both children. Because both children would feel like mine. I would want to know everything about my 'real' child. Instead we just get a book completely focused on Theo.
And then there is the ending, which felt very drawn out and even more unrealistic in how it was solved and resolved.
Spoiler
I thought it would end at the court case, and then something else happens and the cops were never called which is like step 1 for all white people in upsetting situations, the cause of the switch made absolutely no sense, and then there's a way too neat resolution to the whole thing.I still spent most of the book on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next, so I rounded it up to 4 stars despite my reservations regarding the plot.
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Racism
Phew! Babies switched at birth and sociopaths, oh my! I really enjoyed reading Playing Nice by JP Delaney. I liked two other books by this author and DNF one, so I went in not knowing what to expect. I also started reading without knowing what it was about & the beginning of the book definitely triggered my NICU PTSD. While those parts were hard for me to read, this one was FUN and I loved the ending! Let’s not dig too deep about what that means about me.
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