Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Echo Wife: A dark, fast-paced unsettling domestic thriller by Sarah Gailey

92 reviews

riereeds's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It was a good book but I wasn’t very invested. I found it easy to guess what would happen next. The concept as a whole is a good idea but it feels like there are short cuts to get to plot points. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Domestic abuse, Murder, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Infertility

Moderate: Emotional abuse

twinkletues's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, and Alcohol

taylor13's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Gore, Death, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, and Death of parent

blackcatkai's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

CW: murder, death, pregnancy, casual ableism, blood, death, science experiments, violence, infidelity, sexism/misogyny, child abuse, abortion mentioned, domestic violence mentioned (off-page), alcohol use, medical content

I would not categorise this one as a thriller, but probably more a contemporary scifi suspense novel. I think it'd be a good intro novel if you want to get into either scifi or thrillers/suspense while being more into the other genre. This was my first Gailey novel and I will DEFINITELY be reading more of their work in the future. I had a ton of fun with this one & flew threw it. It's on the shorter end, length-wise, but the pacing was well done & characters engaging. Evelyn is awful & I love her. Martine deserved better & I honestly wouldn't mind a short story taking place a bit in the future after this story ends just to see how everyone turns out.

A great way to ease into the spooky season!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Ableism, Infertility, Abortion, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

adamjeffson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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, Sexism, Physical abuse, Blood, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Abortion

maggies's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.0

I think this book will stay with me. I read it in spare moments while traveling, but I thought about it a ton.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Death

cristina_margarita's review against another edition

reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was unlike anything I have ever read! I am convinced it will become a modern sci-fi classic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infertility and Pregnancy

nyoom's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Trafficking, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment, Car accident, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content

kt2e56's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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

I’m speechless. Oh my GOD, this was so good. The sci-fi and mystery angle is interesting in and of itself, but what really pulled me in was the ethics of cloning interwoven throughout. I think it’s because I’m a survivor myself, but I really related to a lot of this book and my heart ached quite a bit for Evelyn who was replaced for not being perfect for her husband and of course Martine who was groomed and molded based on the whims of a deeply fucked up individual.

The parts where Martine can’t figure out what *she* wants versus what she was created to want were really just so chilling. Reading the acknowledgements at the end and discovering that the author is also a survivor helped process a lot of this for me and my instincts about why certain aspects of this book crawled under my skin.

Definitely give this one a read if you can.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Body horror, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, and Sexual content

Deals a lot with grooming but of an adult who is a

clone designed to cater to a man’s every whim.

Can be distressing.

corar's review against another edition

dark reflective 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: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Infidelity, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Medical content, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abortion, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Car accident