Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

24 reviews

vj_thompson's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I would totally read a spin-off series where Carly solves missing persons cases. Overall loved the writing and the story. There were so many good moments, and I was on the edge of my seat reading this book. Will be reading more of Simone St. James’s novels. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Infidelity, Stalking, Violence, Addiction, and Blood

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Child death, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Bullying, Eating disorder, Sexism, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Racism

cyndi1966's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, and Stalking

Moderate: Infidelity and Child death

Minor: Cancer

lrgreenb's review

dark mysterious tense 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death of parent and Infidelity

Minor: Cancer and Rape

librarymouse's review

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! The setting, in particular, was really strong and the transitions between 1982 and 2017 were really tangible. Some of the characters were so pleasantly strange in a very human way. The juxtaposing of Nick, the former delinquent Carly meets as an under the table resident of a run down motel with Callum, the library volunteer who's way too invested in her search for what happened to her aunt is really well done.

Overall, this book was really fucking weird in a highly consumable way.

there was some things that felt like compulsory heterosexuality on my first read through, but to be honest, I think I've just been reading a lot of queer stuff recently, and all this book did was clearly characterize Carly as straight. Vic's cancer coming back at the end of the book, so close to her saying she's cancer free and learning her sister also died of cancer felt a bit out of place to me, but it's also real life and real life issues that do happen being presented within the frame of a thriller. I'm not a fan of the pro-cop rhetoric, but at the same time, I did like Alma as a character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Vomit, Death of parent, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer and Domestic abuse

Major content warning for anyone sensitive to men abusing positions of power, sexual assault, and violence against women.

killmoore_'s review

dark 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was so fun.

A haunted motel. A thrilling mystery. Ambitious and intelligent MC who very much kept the vibe of "young girl" alive - there were so many points that were beyond frustrating, but it felt intentional because it was exactly what an early 20 something would do in that situation. Intelligence gets you nowhere without the life experience to back it up. 

The ending was a bit meh in comparison to rest of the book, but it does end wrapped up in a nice little package, complete with a budding romance bow that normally isn't my cup of tea, but in this situation it was nice. 

Overall, I truly enjoyed The Sun Down Motel, and would love to see a movie or mini series adaptation - just don't cast Cory Michael Smith as Hess please, because that's who I kept imagining and I just can't with it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Sexual assault, Murder, Grief, Rape, Stalking, Blood, Child death, Cursing, and Violence

redefiningrachel's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Infidelity, Grief, Gore, and Death

Minor: Drug use

mariakureads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Ok. A book this good shouldn't have taken me as long as it did but trying to read this at night in a home that makes weird sounds and then randomly nothing but silence creeped me enough to just read this during the day which thanks to work took longer than what even I wanted.

The duo POV from the two MCs took me a bit to get their names and timelines straight since one timeline is in the 80's and another in 2017 but once I had it sorted out, it was interesting to have both voices alternating chapters. One giving the reader the buildup and world building and the other working backwards to get where the other is leading.

St. James did an amazing job of keeping me in my toes. I really thought I had it figured out but the surprise twist was something I didn't see coming and I love that element of surprise. Honestly a fantastic read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Rape

maregred's review

dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Infidelity, and Stalking

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

matcha_cat's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Misogyny, Stalking, Death, and Murder

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Grief

thecriticalreader's review

mysterious 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? No

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James is one of the worst books I’ve ever read. I bought it because I’ve seen quite a few people give it rave reviews, but I have to seriously disagree with their opinions. 

 

The book is split between two perspectives: the first is Viv, a twenty-year-old who relocates to Fell, NY in 1982 and mysteriously vanishes that same year. The second is Carly, Viv’s niece who moves to Fell thirty-five years later to investigate her aunt’s life and disappearance. I kept mixing up whose point of view I was reading because they both lack a distinct voice or personality. They are practically indistinguishable, as their only distinguishing trait is that they like true crime. Carly makes it known that she’s “not like other girls,” because she likes to read and learn about true crime. Any depth they have to them is filled to the brim with pure stupidity. They practically beg to get arrested, attacked, murdered, etc. as they wander about “investigating” murders with a wanton disregard for safety (of themselves and others) and the law. They justify their misinformed and risky “investigations” by claiming that they are trying to bring justice to overlooked murdered women, which is the pathetic excuse thriller authors use to distract the readers from the fact that their protagonists have neither the right nor reason to irresponsibly play amateur detective. 

 

The only reason Viv and Carly get anywhere in their endeavors is that the author sets up every possible plot convenience for them, most of them so ludicrously implausible that my eyes got stuck in the back of my head from rolling them so hard. I could go into specifics, but I’m afraid I would lose brain cells from recalling such stupidity. 

 

If you have any respect for yourself or real murder victims, don’t read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Grief, Misogyny, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexism