Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

139 reviews

nut_megg's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Medical content

rachaelbunny's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Car accident, Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, and Sexual content

ssarahbbeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this. This is a book-lovers book and just completely satisfying. I was a little concerned this would not be an enjoyable read because there were a few characters that were so awful they didn't feel realistic at first. At the beginning, the bigger mystery to me was how they were getting away with behaving the way that they did and not the subsequent bodies piling up. The twist wasn't done just for the sake of having a twist, it is the soul of the story and when I finished I immediately wanted to go back and re-read the book to find all of the breadcrumbs the author left. Every question I had, from the actions of the characters that turned me off so much to the reveal of the mystery was so rewarding. I am glad I stuck with it. After this and Rock Paper Scissors, I think I have found my new favorite author.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Child death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Fatphobia, Animal death, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Car accident, Medical content, Gore, and Infidelity

The violence isn't graphic and mostly a description of the aftermath. There is a scene where a 13 year old gets drunk and an older teenager (around 18) manipulates her into kissing him. Not explicit but could be upsetting. The two mothers are emotionally abusive and all around horrible to their daughters.

zosiablue's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

OK. When I got to the end, my first thought was, THIS IS LUDICROUS. It's a classic locked room Agatha Christie homage but as each character dies, NO ONE has the right sized reaction. I mean, people keep dropping dead, and the alive ones might cry a little but...if my whole family died every hour on the hour while 80 clocks on a wall clanged each time I might have a stronger reaction?! And then the Sixth Sense ending! But. But! If you read it like a absolute terrifying horror shitshow about a bunch of certifiably psychotic people out psychotic-ing each other until there's nothing left but a seaside mansion full of gory, bloody bodies and one sad teenage ghost - then we've got ourselves a ballgame.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Car accident

ariel_marie's review against another edition

mysterious medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

Minor: Sexual assault and Child death

bookaholics_anonymous's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Death of parent, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism and Suicide

rachelfayreads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

kitaface's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm always annoyed when a mystery constantly brings up "what happened that night" through the whole book. Obviously a mystery is going to hold back information, but it's obnoxious to repeatedly refer to "the incident that changed everything". 

Especially when in this case it honestly could have said that Daisy was dead from the start! She could have still been a ghost worried about her family being murdered with very little changes to the story. Though tbh I was not thrilled by the supernatural twist, so 🤷🏻

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Adult/minor relationship

ejoymiller11's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

Rounded up from 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book and found it entertaining, but I do think it could’ve been better. The flashbacks to Daisy’s childhood, while providing some nice context, dragged on a little too much compared to the rushed ending. I understand the author was trying to help us understand the characters and their flaws, but it was so slow and dragged the pace down from the present-day murder mystery chapters. I definitely think we could’ve had quicker summaries of character flaws and used those extra pages at the end of the book. 
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The last 40 or so pages felt forced to me, like it was wrapped up a little too perfectly. While I love the twist of Daisy being dead the entire time (I totally had to go back and read some paragraphs!), I didn’t find Trixie’s motive realistic. I’m not sure I find murdering her entire family and turning herself into an underage orphan over a child aunt that died 15 years earlier believable. It just wasn’t compelling enough for me. I wish we had a longer ending and better explanation for Trixie’s motivations and justification. Nana’s made a little more sense to me, but it was still hard to find believable in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Murder, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, and Child death

Minor: Animal death, Pregnancy, Confinement, Infidelity, Abandonment, Bullying, Gun violence, and Sexual content

rozhin's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Alice Feeney always writes the most twisted endings. 
But this one was just sad. 
I'm so disappointed!
 And I know my opinion might not be the right one on people's eyes, but this was supposed to be a thriller.... so why finish it like thattt and ruin everything :( 

And I'll leave it at that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Child death