Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Homecoming by Kate Morton

5 reviews

avisreadsandreads's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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

3.0

I've read all of Kate Morton's books and this is my least favourite by far. It's slow (and not in a good way), and I saw one of the twists coming from a mile away. It was only the ending (which did manage to shock and move me) that saved the book from a lower rating. I do think both the author and the main character were way too forgiving of one of the other characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Child death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Mental illness, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Grief, and Suicide

Minor: War, Abortion, and Dementia

anne_reader's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, and Infertility

graceolivia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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

2.5

I begrudgingly finished it mostly to find out if my initial theory was right, one of the twists is very obvious the other seemed underdeveloped. As a whole it felt like the pacing was off, it was very slow until the last 3 or 4 chapters which attempted to answer all of the questions in quick succession. I think it would have benefited from more time spent with the characters coming to terms with the developments and less specific details and time in the first three quarters of the book.  

It really frustrated me that Nora was never considered to be incredibly manipulative, Jess seems to forgive her instantly for taking her away from her mother. Polly felt like she should have been the main character, I was far more interested in her thoughts and experiences. It seemed odd that her and Jess never had a proper conversation about why she actually left her with Nora. The pillow lie (x2) never gets acknowledged and apparently multiple people knew Isobel was innocent and said nothing. Marcus seemingly either forgives Meg for killing his best friend and his brothers girlfriend or doesn’t figure out it was her, either way it’s not believable. The idea that the whole thing happened as a snap decision to ‘punish’ Isobel also doesn’t make sense as it doesn’t align with Megs personality, it would be far more believable that Nora did it.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Infertility, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

tamara_joy's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Child death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, and Suicide

Minor: Death of parent, Infidelity, Animal death, Infertility, and Miscarriage

bringmybooks's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

Thank you to Edelweiss, Mariner Books, & HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

✨ 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 ✨ B̷O̷R̷R̷O̷W̷ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷

I always have such trepidation before starting the newest Kate Morton book, because, I mean, how (?!?) could she possibly top her previous novel? HOW? But somehow she always does and Homecoming was no exception.

There is something about Kate Morton's writing that just feels like coming home - it's every perfect thing I've always loved about reading. I love so much about the way she writes but I think my favorite thing is the way she writes about places - in almost every book I've read from her the setting is almost as much of a character as the people and it creates this incredibly immersive feel about her books.

Homecoming was a haunting story about family, love, loyalty, and community. It sank into my bones and I know it's one that I'm going to think about for years to come. There's probably a lot more to say about it, as far as "reviews" go, but by now your interest is either piqued or it's not - I don't know what else I could say other than she is my absolute most favorite author of all time. That's it, folks, that's the tweet.

And now that I'm up to date with everything she's published, here's my rankings:
1. The Secret Keeper (2012)
2. The Clockmaker's Daughter (2018)
3. Homecoming (2023)
4. The Forgotten Garden (2008)
5. The Distant Hours (2010)
6. House at Riverton (2006)
7. The Lake House (2015)

All that being said, please know that coming up with that list is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my reading life, and also that while The Forgotten Garden is *technically* #4 on this list, it's also one of the ones I hold closest to my heart because it is the first Kate Morton I read and it was absolutely spellbinding. (Seriously, the differences between books 1-4 on that list are SO CLOSE)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Infertility, Infidelity, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Death, and Murder