Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

225 reviews

clarklyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

I have a lot of feelings about this book. I devoured it for one. It kept me hooked from the very beginning and reminded me of Lovely Bones. There really wasn’t a twist in my opinion-

it is pretty obvious who Poppy’s mother is even before the book spells it out for you. I think a real twist would have been Ellie living but maybe that is just me wanting her to have survived. 

I was also very disturbed by the way Laurel talked about her other daughter, Hanna. “Laurel had never accepted Hanna as a consolation prize”…

”Laurel is about to say, Oh, she was much prettier than Hanna”…

”Hanna. Her middle child. The difficult one. The tiring one. The one she wouldn’t want to be stranded on a desert island with. And a terrible thought shot through her, so fast she barely registered it. It should be you missing and Ellie eating beans on toast.“

 I mean what kind of mom thinks this way about her daughter? I understand she is grieving but it’s horrible. Extremely disturbing, IMO, and left unaddressed other than a half-ass voicemail apology.

 

It loses some serious points from me because I was disturbed by how Laurel talked and thought about her middle child and how the book never really addresses these thoughts. The ending was also very unsatisfying and lacked a feeling of justice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Pregnancy, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

fraggle1982's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Infertility, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Suicide, and Pregnancy

mummamyers's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Torture, Stalking, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

kmaller01's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

dfriend12's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Death, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Minor: Animal death

katounettetae's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

Fun, quick read. I figured out the twist very early on…. But still wanted to keep reading, which is a testament to Jewell’s writing skills. Not my favourite book of hers, but still a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Animal death, and Child death

sofiam19's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Confinement, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Grief, and Child abuse

it’s never mentioned but implied Ellie was forcefully impregnated/sexually assaulted by Noel< /spoiler>

canngrob's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child death, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Child abuse

Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

cawilliams29's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Lisa Jewel took me on a twisty, horrifying journey. The characters were complex and mysterious, everyone has secrets and the relationships feel so real and tender, especially the mother daughter relationship throughout. 
I knew pretty much the way the story would unravel from early on but that didn't lessen the shock, sadness or horror at how the life of Ellie Mack ended and the family struggling to come together again, but also the beauty of the moments when they finally did.
My favourite Lisa Jewel so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Grief

Moderate: Miscarriage and Murder

rgetch06's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Stalking, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Classism, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship