Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

59 reviews

kimveach's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

Good, creepy thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

kccool12255's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.0

Original (3.25 stars): 

I kid you not when I say this is literally one of the most messed-up books I have ever read. The Liars series had bad stuff like this IN those books, BUT THE PLOT TWISTS MADE SENSE. This book literally feels like a fever dream. I can’t even put it into words. The only thing I can say is that it spellbound me. I literally COULD NOT put it down, I HAD to know how it ended. Just…I can’t. I don’t know what else to say. This book sucked.

Although it’s SO CUTE how Poppy calls Laurel Mama.

Still bad, though.

Revisited (4.0 stars): 

Yes, I reread it. And BOY OH BOY, I was READY for it this time. 

I think that for books like this, you really have to know what you're getting into. You need to know what level of disgusting, messed-up crap is gonna be in these types of books before

you're reading about a girl who gets kidnapped and unknowingly, WITHOUT HER CONSENT, gets inseminated with some random dude's sperm bought on the dark web. This book is MESSED. UP.

you dive straight in. There needs to be DISCLAIMERS. I know that there's content warnings on here, but they should have something actually IN the book before you read it, so you don't go in blind. I don't know, that's just my personal thoughts. 

That being said, for this genre? Then She Was Gone is MASTERFUL in its storytelling, and I think it paved the way for a lot more books like it, like I Invited Her In by Adele Parks. I'll have to fact-check that, but the two fall in the same category. However, where I Invited Her In is basically just a bunch of things happening in quick succession, Then She Was Gone is actually a narrative that is woven through multiple different time frames, and just about EVERYTHING ties together in the end. It's very smart, and honestly just very good writing. 

However, I still take issue for the multiple side character storylines that were unnecessary and kind of stupid. WHY did Hanna have to get with and MARRY Ellie's old boyfriend? That is...a lot, and frankly, it's disrespectful to Ellie on both of their parts. With Theo, WHY would you date your missing girlfriend's SISTER? With Hanna, WHY would you date your missing sister's BOYFRIEND? It's VERY unrealistic, and I do not like the storyline any way you slice it up. It's weird, and kind of gross. And WHY did Sara-Jade need to be having an affair with a MARRIED man TWICE HER AGE? And did she need to be a nude model, or whatever the heck she is? She's just a really weird character, she could've been much better but Lisa Jewell held back.

 

Ellie is very well-written for being a teenager, and no one can fault her for the mistakes she makes that lead to her downfall. You can feel genuinely bad for her and what she goes through down in that basement. 

Floyd, Laurel, and Poppy are all VERY well-rounded characters, and I liked them a lot. Not much to say on that front. Laurel and Poppy's relationship is very sweet, especially in the end.

Laurel gets to be the mother Poppy never had! *sob* Floyd is very well-written in his confessional, I love how his like entire personality is really just a facade, built up to please Laurel. He was in a BAD situation, and you can give him a lot of blame for that, but honestly, he did what he could. I can't believe he KILLED himself, THAT had me shook, but honestly, what else was he gonna do in his life? Noelle screwed up a LOT of people, and I STILL can't believe he killed her. That was just...wow.

 

I would probably rate this book higher, but we have history. Maybe I'll revisit it sometime in the future for a higher rating, but for now, I'm satisfied with what we have. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Murder, Infertility, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Violence and Physical abuse

aas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Death, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

teeclecticreads's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

2.0

This was a 2.5 star read for me personally. I had so many qualms with this book:

• It was easy to figure out the mystery behind Ellie’s disappearance. I even have a sticky note that I put in the book just to go back to it and prove myself right. Though I must say, the finer details did have me feeling very uncomfortable and kinda sick to my stomach. That’s superb writing right there, because some people in this world are actually that sick and twisted.

• Why was American English being used in a book set in the United Kingdom?? That was such a pet peeve for me as someone who uses British English. If they’re in England, it should be ‘humour’ not ‘humor’.

• Most of the characters were extremely annoying to me. Laurel constantly shat on Hanna and kept comparing her to what Ellie was, Poppy didn’t feel like an accurate description of a 9 year old to me. Her language and behaviour felt quite mature. Painting Floyd as this story of ‘doing it to protect my daughter’ guy then with the suicide thing was so not cool. He doesn’t get to be felt sorry for. What he did was creepy and wrong. Then Hanna getting with and marrying her dead sister’s ex was really just kinda gross to me

• I hate ending. I really do
it doesn’t make sense that the letter was written by Ellie if she wasn’t allowed to leave the cellar at any point. How would she have been able to do that? That’s a huge hole in the plot line

I just overall was not a fan of this. Disappointed

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Kidnapping, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Child abuse, Torture, Stalking, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Infertility, Grief, and Emotional abuse

clara_017's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

I think I’m obsessed with Lisa Jewells books. This is the third book written by her that I’ve read. 

I give this book 4.75 Stars. It was an amazing story. Somewhat bizarre but brilliant. The characters are beautifully described and the book is so well written, I couldn’t stop reading. The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars is that some parts of the plot where predictable, but I didn’t mind because there where still a lot of unpredictable twists and I didn’t expect the ending at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Stalking, Child abuse, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Animal death, Infertility, Suicide, Murder, and Terminal illness

baileyridgway's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Murder, Child death, Rape, Infertility, Suicide, Stalking, Grief, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Confinement, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

meluelmil's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-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

Really, really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down, but I also kept stopping to write my thoughts and theories so I could look back on them and see if I was on the right track. I LOVE that the story was well concluded and the loose ends were all tied. AND IT ALL MADE SENSE! There were lots of surprises and scenes that made me gasp out loud without a lazy explanation (read: “it was mental illness” or “it was all a dream” or “it was all a coincidence”). Great story, great execution, great epilogue!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Suicide, Child death, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, and Stalking

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Pedophilia, Infertility, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Mental illness

shyleek's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

Her daughter was gone. Ten years later she was moving on...finally. But was her daughter as gone as she thought?

Very slow start and I didn't think it was going to pick up. Almost to the end I said out loud "well I still don't understand". Middle gave us all the info but the characters still didn't know. Then the last few pages were just like oh, what's the point of the book of the main character doesn't know guess I better tell her. 

Potentially a good story I just didn't enjoy the way it was presented.

Will not read again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicide, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Death, and Child death

therewillbelight's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Kidnapping

Moderate: Infertility, Confinement, Child death, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, and Animal death

taylorleilani's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Animal death, and Infertility