Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

12 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

kaelizaco's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Rape, Child death, Death, Drug use, Confinement, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Car accident, Kidnapping, and Murder

micaelamariem's review

dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.0

I was so excited to read this book even though I put it off for so long. (It was my BOTM pick a year ago). I love fairy tale retellings and I love when they’re dark and gritty too, like a homage to the originals which were meant to be dark and gritty. But this book was mostly disappointing. It took me a while to decide how to rate this, because some of it was actually well-written and I did feel like I was in New York and London. 

But there were things I really didn’t like and it wasn’t until reading the other reviews that I could put words to it. I will say that a main complaint of others is not of mine—BUT still check trigger warnings. There is SA in the book but I thought it was going to be more graphic based on the complaints and it wasn’t the main point of the book. The book is more about Peter Pan kidnapping children (which again is kind of a homage to the original). 
I think it had potential if we saw more of Peter and how he grew dark—or even got to see what Neverland has become! That would have been much more interesting than just chapter after chapter of Holly worrying and sad with very little action to fix the problem. 

Also, someone else said they were annoyed how Holly wanted to sleep with everyone she met, and honestly that was kind of annoying. Though I’m all for sexual freedom, I felt like this took away her agency. 

The author also tried to push a romance that didn’t work for me—there was very little burn in it, it was just 0-100. In a sense, my main complaint for everything is that. 0-100, details of worrying but no detail of the action and how they solved the problem. I’m not going to be keeping this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

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

blouviere4's review

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Abandonment, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

stromanmaddie's review against another edition

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

1.0

Peter Pan retelling where Peter is the bad guy. It would be helpful to know the story’s background before diving in. Much of the reading depends on you knowing the original story.

I know this because despite Peter Pan being over one hundred years old, I do not fully know the original story, just bits and pieces, and at times I was a bit confused.

*The rest of the review has spoilers!!

The pace of this book was agonizingly slow. It took 150 pages to get out the background story and for anything interesting to happen. Then, just when you think something happened, that was intensely slow. Not only that, but we kept seeing Holly say the same shit over and over. It got old fast reading the same thing in fifty different ways. 

Based on the story’s timeline and how miserable it is, I thought there was no way this story ends in a HEA, but I knew the author would hurriedly wrap it up in a nice bow anyway. Then I got to the end and realized I was right. The ending was so forced. Nothing got explained either. We were just supposed to accept what happened with no further explanation. We are supposed to infer Jack is completely healed based on Holy’s simple observation, with no explanation except a theory? Peter also went up in dust based on a theory; no clarification? Eden’s blood makes Jane age decades backward while it only heals Jack?

Not to mention how nothing ever really happens, either. The story is just a constant flow of people having conversations, and there’s never any action. When there is, we are conveniently kept out of it, and we only hear the aftermath of the story after. The crash, the fall, the party, the conceiving, even the bell tower scene. We never get to be there; we only get told the stories and memories after. I truly hope I never pick up another book like this again.

It was truly suffering being stuck in Holly’s head. She was so pessimistic, closed off, and one-track-minded. Not only was she suffocating Jack, but she was suffocating me as well. I get her concerns but let the boy live his damn life. A life shackled is no life at all. I did not feel an ounce of pity when Holly’s world started to crumble around her after Eden woke up because Holly created all of her problems with the lies she spun.

I truly despise when people’s problems are of their creation because all they do is lie to people. Sometimes, I can understand if their survival depends on it, but that was not the case here in Holly’s case. She is just stuck in her head and never takes herself out to see it from someone else’s point of view. She kept crucial information from her loved ones. Truths they had every right to know, no matter the damage the truth inflicted upon the individuals. They had the right to know, and Holly took away that right from them, especially Jack.

Besides Jack, these characters are completely one-dimensional, one-tracked, and unlovable. They either suck, or we don’t see enough of them to care. It got old fast reading the same thing in fifty different ways. 

I know I harped on about how much I disliked this story (because it sucked), but it occasionally throw out a good one-liner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

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

haleysversion's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Chronic illness, Addiction, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Rape

livreads16's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

This book was not what I thought it would be. The writing was decent, the characters were alright. The ending of the book was nice. I’m really glad Jane believed her daughter; that was really nice and very necessary.  I feel like the twist of the story was too dark… like it was just way too creepy and uncomfortable.

Peter Pan is a rapist??? And he takes advantage of teenage boys???

Like why would you write that?!? Idk I just feel like this book could have stayed in the drafts. I’m really glad I didn’t pay for this book. And I’m really glad this book is over. Would not recommend to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Car accident, Drug use, Drug abuse, Blood, Rape, Grief, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Pedophilia, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Medical content, Murder, and Alcohol

mytearsricochet_'s review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Grief, Car accident, and Kidnapping