Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

8 reviews

kellybronwynt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Drug use, Stalking, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Car accident, Death, Trafficking, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

lovelymisanthrope's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

I received this book as a gift and was excited to read a new take on the Peter Pan story.
"Darling Girl" follows Holly Darling, the granddaughter of the infamous Wendy Darling. Holly's life is going as well as can be expected, until she receives a phone call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for the last decade, is missing. Desperate to find Eden, and to protect her son, Jack, Holly might just have to face Peter Pan himself.
This was a really fun, new take on the Peter Pan story. In the original "Peter Pan" story, Peter Pan is much more sinister than the Disney story, so I enjoyed seeing a story play more into that side of Peter Pan. I also really appreciated that this is not a retelling, but rather a new story that expands upon what could have happened years after the original story. No matter how the original "Peter Pan" ended, the Darling family would have been greatly impacted by what happened for decades afterwards, and I really enjoyed getting to see a new generation of Darlings have to face Peter Pan and his evil ways.
Holly's life has been filled with a lot of tragedy, and her reasoning for her decisions felt a little skewed in my opinion. The reader learns fairly early on that something about Eden is helping to keep Jack alive. This small fact feels kind of wrong, and it made me question Holly as a mother. Why did she value Jack's life over Eden's? I wish she would have fought harder to figure out what was going on with Eden and try to help her more. Additionally, I do not understand why she had to keep Eden from Jack. Jack was too young when the accident occurred to remember Eden, but I feel like Holly could have talked about Eden with Jack as he got older.
This story was fine, and I had a fine time reading it, but I probably will not think about it much in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, Child death, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Kidnapping and Mental illness

Minor: Rape

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

maddisenjulian's review

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Rape, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Child death, Car accident, and Death

willyzita's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Grief, Child death, and Car accident

laurennnn1066's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, Murder, Medical content, Terminal illness, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Death, Car accident, Mental illness, Rape, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

bookishkale's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

Ugh this plot could have been so good if a few things were changed. I think I needed to focus on different elements. Tell the story of the real Peter through the eyes of each of the Darling girls instead of whatever this ended up being. The author is talented but this is just not the book for me. Wish I liked it more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol, Ableism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Abandonment, Car accident, and Medical trauma