Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

116 reviews

bbell99's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Grief, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, Stalking, Confinement, Murder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

afrenette's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Kidnapping, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Infertility, Gaslighting, and Miscarriage

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

alymccaskill's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Easily one of my favorite books lately. At no point did I have a prediction for how something was going to pan out, which is exactly the kind of book I like to read. It’s painfully real and emotionally jarring. Lisa KNOWS how to write a villain the way real life does, like a regular person. You will go through all the stages of grief, yet love every minute of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence

mlle's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

3.25

As someone with ADHD, the book kept my attention. It has short chapters with something new or something discovered at the end. It kept me engaged throughout the book because I wanted to know how it ended. However, that's pretty much it without spoilers. 

The events of what happened to the daughter is so sad but you can kind of see it coming if you are an avid reader of this genre. A good amount of this book is believable: the kidnapping, the Mom having a favorite child, her attempting to love again. However, what was unbelievable was that child Poppy (if I remember correctly) was so unnaturally mature it didn't make sense to me. The artificial insemination reminded me of Jane the Virgin, and the boyfriend not saying anything. I didn't like the ending for me personally- I like a chaotic mess but this was okay.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Sexual assault

Moderate: Grief

If you want one of those old school LifeTime movies that they play on Sunday nights in the mid 00's then this is it.

lauragoose's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.75

Hard to finish. I'm not sure if the book intended to be surprising or shocking or with having "twists" but it's all plainly laid out. Slow pace. Sad inclusions of diet culture and toxic beauty stands. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Animal death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Slavery, Torture, Eating disorder, Suicide, Death, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Trafficking, Child death, Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Murder, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

crowray's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

i loved the twists in this book i hate when i can guess but a few of them really caught me by surprise. the characters felt fleshed out and human and the emotion and writing was brill. didn’t feel very tense apart from towards the end but that’s really the only thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Death, Gore, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Violence, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Mental illness

pagesand_polish's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Murder

kambell00's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Murder, and Stalking

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

This was an interesting story, and I didn't predict a part of the climax.  I definitely thought the storytelling was stronger in the The Family Upstairs series, but this one was fine. The whole

hamster

thing was weird though and kind of felt like a detail added later to increase ~weirdness~.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Grief, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Infertility, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Alcohol

tori2629's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.75

You think you know exactly what's going to happen from the summary. Then, just 50 or so pages in, you are SURE you know what's happened, and you will think "Wow, is this just the most predictable book ever???" But, then, when things are finally revealed, you realize, "Hm. Well, this went in a different direction than I expected!" I do feel like it being obvious what happens to Ellie, and how she connects to Floyd and Poppy, was kind of the whole point. The story isn't a mystery about "what happened to Ellie." It's about her Mum, Laurel finally putting the pieces of her life together and moving on afterwards.  

Overall, I liked the book. It got a little slow in the middle, and I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable, not even Laurel or Poppy, really, but the plot was compelling enough that I wanted to see what happened, and how things wind up in the end. I was pleasantly surprised. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Abandonment, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Moderate: Murder and Death

Minor: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Animal death