Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

139 reviews

fraise's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Bullying, Murder, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Medical content, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Suicide, Sexual content, and Animal death

savvylit's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

Daisy Darker is a tough book to rate, honestly. As a thriller, it's quite entertaining and does a good job of maintaining suspense. The conclusion and reveal genuinely surprised me! I had guessed the murderer but not the circumstances. If you enjoy fast-paced mysteries, you'll probably enjoy this! The mystery itself is a four-star idea & execution.

Though I did appreciate the suspense and homages to Agatha Christie, the actual quality of writing in Daisy Darker is not great. To the point where it frequently bothered me as a reader. I rolled my eyes at many narrative decisions. When describing Daisy's family or her past, every paragraph is absolutely LOADED with similes and metaphors. This is not a direct quote but will give you an idea of what I mean: "if families are a tapestry, ours was frayed beyond repair." The first several chapters include sentences like that multiple times within single paragraphs. It's incredibly heavy-handed. We get it! The Darker family is deeply dysfunctional.

Furthermore, the chapters tend to conclude with sentences that serve as ridiculously transparent attempts at cliffhangers: "and that was a night I'll never forget" or "my sisters' relationship was never the same again." Almost every chapter ended that way and it was so unnecessary. The cliffhanger-esque details become obvious later anyway! Again with heavy-handed narration. Just tell the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Medical content, Violence, Child death, Medical trauma, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Sexual assault and Body shaming

marik0n's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I just finished reading Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney and I had the urge to immediately start re reading it!

Alice Feeney is surely the queen of dualpovs and plottwists.

Even though I was really invested in this story, I didn't like it as much as her other books.

Don't get me wrong, it was still a masterpiece, but something spoiled it for me (the ending). 

All in all it was a great read, by a great writer and I look forward to reading more of her stories.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Murder, Death of parent, Chronic illness, and Child death

Minor: Sexual content

amazingracerose's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Death

catieohjoy's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Death, Child death, and Death of parent

katharina90's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I love stories that center dysfunctional families–so relatable. I’m also a fan of thrillers set in remote locations. This book checked both of those boxes. Sadly, I didn’t find it as atmospheric as Lucy Foley’s The Guest List, for example. 

Plot and writing overall were fine but character development was lacking so I wasn’t really invested. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Alcoholism and Child abuse

amplawrence's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Gun violence, Child death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual assault

penandpaper's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

An amazing book! At times, the build up and prose was a bit repetitive, but that’s a common problem with mysteries. This is a book about living in the past and needing to accept it to move on, and it’s very well done. The plot twist could be decisive (I first hated it, then loved it, then had lingering questions), but the book does a good job of balancing comfortable nostalgia with suspense and mystery. I think this is a book you’ll either love or hate from the ending.

I think the mechanics of the final twist could have been done better. Like, why does she stick around but not her relatives? Does the book set her free? What happens to Trixie? As much as I appreciate the sudden twist and the tie in to the beginning, I wish we had more information 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Child death, Murder, Death, Sexual content, Alcohol, Car accident, Ableism, Blood, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Medical content, and Animal cruelty

____emily____'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse

shelfofunread's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Mental illness

Minor: Animal death