Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

58 reviews

mrspeacockwiththecandlestick's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Millie is hired as a made for the Winchester family. Nina Winchester seems warm and kind, the job also seems too good to be true for the young woman out on parole from prison. As Millie moves into the Winchester house and begins her new position, she quickly discovers that her new employer is very hard to work with but the husband is easy on the eyes. 

Whoa…. This book…. Oof!!!! There were so many twists and turns around every corner that I often felt as if I was getting whiplash. McFadden is very talented. I gave this a 3 star rating only because the content at times had me anxious.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Child abuse, Confinement, and Toxic relationship

ellaticonstellation's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

Damn! This book hooked me. It was written in a way where I craved for more. Highly addictive to say the least. I couldn't stop reading. This is my third book from Freida and I thoroughly enjoyed this one more than the other two. Nina and Millie were both smart women who fell for the wrong guy. Good thing Enzo helped out. I thought he was undercover or something. Lol. God. It turned so dark, I had chills. Men like Andrew disgusted me. Who does that? Oh, one thing I wasn't crazy about was the police turned out to be Andy's ex's father. It was a bit too coincidental. But oh well, because of him, the women were free. Dear Cece will never be punished by a monster. The abuse stopped when he died and he turned that way because of Evelyn, his mother. And Millie's mission to help more women continues to the next book. I can't wait to read more. Thank you, Doc. (I heard in a book group on Fb that she's a doctor)✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Torture, Abandonment, Child abuse, Infertility, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

loudo's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Death of parent, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Excrement, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Self harm, Suicide, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Classism, Abandonment, Medical content, Murder, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Mental illness, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Deportation, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

booksandpasta's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Body horror, and Violence

kt2e56's review

dark fast-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

2.5

The narrator was awful (begging more voice actors to learn what an actual Brooklyn accent sounds like. Also she outright just didn’t know how to pronounce simple words? Is there no editing in Audiobooks?) and both Millie and Nina were competing in the Pick Me! Olympics and were really frustrating to read about because they both felt so completely underdeveloped .

It’s weird how little detail McFadden gives us. Is this a new trend? Taylor Jenkins Reid writes like this too. They just assume “a large, expensive looking room” or “white pants” are enough when none of that actually paints a picture for me as a reader. There was more detail (like ten pages worth) and description when Nina accidentally squirts breast milk everywhere at work than there is like anything else in this book.

Also

Millie’s backstory makes zero sense to me. You’d think someone who spent 10 years in prison would have more street smarts and common sense but no. She makes the most absurd mistakes.

And she really leans HARD into the whole “pick me!” NLOG thing. It was hard not to roll my eyes every time she said something along the lines of “Nina is an ugly fat bitch unlike me who is sexy and petite and model gorgeous (despite doing 10 years in prison then living in my car for months) but also young and fertile.” Like girl, STAND UP. Have some self respect lmfao. No man is worth it.

Especially not the blank void of a character that is Andrew (we just know he’s hot but we’re never given much description part that and even before shit gets crazy, he has no personality at all). 

Nina and Enzo’s scheme also makes ZERO sense. And is pretty revolting tbh. It’s weird that they both really thought setting up another woman to be tortured by Andrew was a good idea.

This is another example of an author being so wrapped up in having a twist that they forgot how to actually develop one that makes sense.

This was a fast listen and entertaining enough so 2.5 stars is I think an adequate rating but yeah, the author has a lot of work to do before writing anything else 😬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

erinbahrenfuss's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The twist was a lot more “in my face” and predictable than I was expecting, but it did not fail to keep me engaged. I was unable to put the book down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Domestic abuse, Torture, Death, Eating disorder, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Infidelity

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Abandonment, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Blood, and Deportation

lemon_the_emu's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Body horror, and Death

Minor: Sexual content

sunny_not's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

A bit slow at the beginning but it picks up the pace after the middle and it's just a rollercoaster. I loved the twist and

Andrew getting what he deserved was very satisfying. After what he did to poor Nina... It was super gruesome I hated it so much. I wonder why Nina felt the need to say that Millie was in the prison I don't think it made sense since she wanted Andrew to like her but her saying that could've ruined it, it felt very risky to me. I wish we could've seen some bonding between Cece and Millie too but I understand why Cece is wary of adults after that crazy man. Also I don't understand why Nina wanted to go to prison after dealing with that man for so long in order to not go to prison. I don't think it made much sense

overall I really enjoyed this book. Although some things didn't make much sense it was very intriguing and the twist was done well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gore, Drug abuse, and Toxic relationship

znvisser's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-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

2.0

Meh. This was creepy right from the start and it was easy enough to continue reading, even though for about the first third nothing much happens except variations of the same issues. The chapters were too short to have each one ending with a dramatic sentence in conclusion, I’d have preferred smoother transitions. Nina felt stereotypical, and the gaslighting and Millie’s naïveté kept dragging on; even though it’s clear why she needed this job, I didn’t understand her complete refusal to try exerting some influence over her situation, like doing some job searching on the side or learn basic Italian. Especially weird considering where she spent the previous ten years: no survival instinct at all, just helpless vibes, staying in place while everything around her warned her to do the opposite.

And once you find out the details of her past, it’s even weirder she blindly trusts this random guy so quickly.

So despite the tension, this turned out quite repetitive and the flat characters were the final blow, all of this completely lacking depth. Yes, it’s fast-paced and mysterious, but at what cost? Really confused the reviews aren’t at least more mixed for this. Well, at least I ticked off the first prompt of my reading challenge!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Ableism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood, Death, Mental illness, Fatphobia, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, and Infertility

ajhowe2's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Deportation, Confinement, Medical trauma, Classism, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Physical abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Death