Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

21 reviews

emoxxecologist's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I enjoyed this immensely, even though I had no idea what I was in for. 

This tale is set in a world where Peter Pan and Wendy were real.  The main character is Wendy’s granddaughter, Holly.  The story focuses on her, along with her 2 children and mother. 

Peter isn’t a good guy in this one- he’s far from it. He’s the reason the story takes a dark turn- this book didn’t come with any trigger warnings for me and I was very surprised.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Stalking, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Drug use, Grief, Murder, and Rape

s_dima's review

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.0

If you like twisted fairytales, or books that are mysterious and leave you asking tons of questions throughout, you'll like this book! My only complaint is that there wasn't a ton of explanation on the world building, like what gave Peter Pan his abilities and why he turned out the way he did, or what is the "true" story that happened to Wendy? So you may not get all the answers at the end, but still a compelling retelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child death, Rape, and Car accident

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Chronic illness

cassiecraycray's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

This was one of those books where nothing happens for the majority of the book and then everything snowballs at the end into a giant cluster fuck.
This isn't an innocent tale of Peter pan, this was a very twisted story.
Holly Darling is the granddaughter to Wendy Darling, yes that Wendy. She grew up hearing the Tales of Peter pan but instead of wonder she felt unease. She grew up and left thoughts of Neverland behind her until she lost part of her family to an accident. After the accident (and for the entire book) Holly says that everything she did was for her children. That's her telling us because she sure didn't show us how everything was for her kids, most of her actions seemed pretty selfish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Kidnapping, Rape, and Sexual assault

saramoser's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

TW: SA, Rape, drugs, child death, child abuse, injecting children with drugs 

After reading a lot of reviews, I was so worried I would not like this book. But the book is exactly how it’s described-a dark and twisted Peter Pan, while I think the author could’ve done more to give back stories and further some character development, I still was stuck wanting to find out what’s next.  I was deep into the book by the first chapter, and was wanting to do nothing but read the book and find out what happens by the end.

I would suggest for someone who wants the dark and twisted (not just dark) side of Peter Pan. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Grief, Kidnapping, and Murder

hannahreadslotsofbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

This one took me a bit to get into, but once I was in it, I was in it and I felt like it was very well-written. The story follows Holly Darling, the granddaughter of Wendy Darling from the Peter Pan story. Her family has gained fame and fortune from the stories, but Holly knows that Peter Pan is not all that he seems. Throughout the story, Holly must protect her two children (who disappear at various points in the story) from him and his evil intentions. Holly also is trying to maintain her cosmetics business, whose secret ingredient comes from the blood of her and Peter’s daughter Eden who lies comatose in London after an accident. The story has lots of twists and turns and at times the plot becomes more complicated, but it doesn’t detract from the story overall. The best character in the story is Christopher Cooke, the private investigator Holly hires to find Peter and her missing children. The plot starts off slow, but it amps up at the end and makes it all worth it. Definitely think it is worthwhile to read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Addiction, Car accident, and Rape

ezismythical's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Rape, Car accident, Toxic relationship, and Death

jaylee_books's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Chronic illness, Child death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent

prof_pelon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Rape, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, Death, Child death, Medical content, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Addiction

Moderate: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Grief, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, Drug use, Stalking, Child death, Car accident, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Incest, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

adventuresinfictionland's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I’ve not read a Peter Pan retelling in the past, nor have I read a Liz Michalski. I want more of both in the future! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Death, Drug use, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

elwan_enchanted's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Child death, Medical trauma, Medical content, Abandonment, Blood, Murder, Addiction, Car accident, Chronic illness, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, and Rape