Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

18 reviews

lilshelly's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious 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

4.5


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caitlinspeachyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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bookishmillennial's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

Thank you to PRH Audio for the ALC. I am providing this review of my own accord. 

This book follows 18-year-old Bel as she begins filming a documentary about her mom Rachel's disappearance when she was 2 years old. Her father only agreed to this because they desperately need the money, and they just haven't received any answer about Rachel's whereabouts in the last 16 years. They're hoping the money will help their family, as Bel's grandfather slips deeper into dementia, and that they can possibly find some answers regarding Rachel. However, all of a sudden, Rachel re-appears and havoc ensues, obviously! Her answers about where she has been do not make sense to Bel, and Bel refuses to be led astray, investigating her mom herself, with the help of a documentary staff member, Ash. She leaves her younger cousin Carter and aunt Sherry and uncle Jeff out of this though, as she doesn't want to upset her family, especially her dad.

The audiobook is 16 hours, so if you listen at 2x speed, then it's 8 hours. I loved the AGGGTM series, like it is one of my all-time favorite young adult thrillers/mysteries. I think the entire trilogy is genius!!! However, this book was too long! HAHAHA. My friends who read this review will laugh at me, because that's always my top criticism and I'm sorry! I feel this could have been 4 hours shorter, cutting out a lot of extra fluff, especially the romance between
Ash and Bel, because I didn't particularly feel the same vibes I felt between Poppy & Sal in AGGGTM, but that's just me I guess?


Anyway, the actual mystery of:
  • what happened to Rachel
  • who took her
  • how she escaped
  • why she came back/at this time
  • where Bel's dad went 

was .... not what I was expecting, and yet.....
it's always some dusty, crusty man. Let's be real! And it's always the spouse UGH.
Holly Jackson once again did the damn thing in letting ciswomen make wild choices, and allowing readers to unwaveringly support them lmao. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, I only wish it was shorter & I had to suspend disbelief in the aunt/uncle's storylines because ... I find that almost wrapped up *too* nicely with a bow, but whatevs. 

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wondernaut55's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I adored this - it felt like a comeback from Five Survive, with a heavy focus on character development as well as an interesting mystery. Because of the equal focus on characters and a twisty plot, the pacing did suffer quite a bit, but I loved the characters and mystery enough to keep going. 

Strong Points: Characters, compelling setup, intrapersonal relationships, and themes

Weak Points: Not really many stakes to stick to the mystery until we got to a little past the halfway point - if we’re breaking this up into 4 acts, act 2 bogged down pretty quickly, and act 3 started strong but like a rollercoaster it dropped hard. I also felt like our villain’s motive was pretty weak and didnt unravel the mystery in the most satisfying way. However, the theme carried that on its back, and I loved the wrap-up for it. 

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madreadings's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

twisty, dark, emotional.  a good look into the phenomenon and obsession people have with true crime.  another banger from holly jackson  

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siennaflynn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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s_green217's review against another edition

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hopeful 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

2.5


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bridget_magpie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.0

I was so excited to read this book. I love Holly Jackson’s style, she easily win me with AGGGTM. I really liked this book, there was so much suspense and mystery and I really didn’t expect what really happened. The story is great, but I wasn’t absolutely fan of the ending. Something about it just didn’t feel right with me. Saying all that, this is easily a strong 4 star novel. 

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nrogers_1030's review

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emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5


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bookswithlauren's review against another edition

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challenging 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

5.0


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