Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

47 reviews

halebugs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Gun violence, Police brutality, Hate crime, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

kaylaannsreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Racism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, and Death

madmantha's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

One of the best books I’ve ever read, if not THE best. 
Thrilling, anxiety-inducing, emotional and yet hilarious at the same time. 

Can’t wait to suggest this read to others, I loaned it from the library but will definitely be purchasing my own copy. This is something that deserves to be remembered and celebrated for years to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Abandonment, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Homophobia, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Vomit, Alcohol, Addiction, Hate crime, Outing, Racial slurs, and Slavery

mysterymom40's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Torture, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Cultural appropriation, and Drug use

bedbugs and a character scratching herself too much, leaving skin damage; on page sex scene

toorsdenote's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

Picked up a quick thriller, it was meh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Terminal illness

dayelb_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

vmgonzalez1003's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical trauma, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

taelights's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

Honestly I had such high hopes for this book so I'm very disappointed about rating this so low because this idea had so much potential but I thought a lot of it was wasted. While I love a murder mystery type thriller this was completely different with it focusing on gentrification and racism and real world problems so I was so hopeful and so disappointed when it fell flat. 

I loved the general concept and what we found out was going on was very interesting and fucked up. However, it took forever to get to that element of the book and nothing really seemed to happen until the later 75% of the book. There seemed to be way too much filler in this book and not enough of the payoff. In fact it felt like there wasn't a true conclusion to the book at all with it stopping abruptly and the epilogue leaving so many unanswered questions. 

Sydney I thought was underdeveloped and I hated Theo. His POV was always so annoying to read and I thought he was a major creep. Like he's always watching Sydney in the apartment across the street and getting boners for her and acting like a teenage boy going through puberty with how often he's getting horny for her and it's like dude.... Yet he's supposed to be seen in a good light and as like the only non racist and non threatening white person who moved in…. Yikes. Like sure he's not part of the overall group of bad guys but. The bar is in hell. 

The romance between Sydney and Theo was unbearable too. Like I hated them together and thought Theo didn't deserve her and her suddenly wanting him after treating him like a crap until they hooked up made the romance make zero sense. So much of the book is developing this boring gross romance though. Like I know now that this author is a romance author trying her hand at thrillers but my god this seemed like a romance with a side of a fucked up plan featuring gentrification and racism rather than an actual thriller. 

I didn't vibe with the writing style. I saw someone say it read like a YA and I kind of agree. The characters felt very immature and Theo's especially it felt like reading a teenager's POV. 

Overall this thriller really disappointed me and was lacking in so many areas. I have way more complaints about this book than praise unfortunately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Police brutality, Racism, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual content, Stalking, Terminal illness, Violence, Addiction, Classism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Colonisation and Cultural appropriation

annibear_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Bullying, Body shaming, Classism, Alcohol, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Violence

cheye13's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I have quite a bit of Alyssa Cole on my TBR because I like romance, but for some reason this was the first I picked up. This was masterfully done – there were moments I felt Sydney's anxieties as if they were my own. The "everyday" anxieties – having a creepy uber driver, a local pub suddenly closed – are woven into the extreme so seamlessly that I bought into every second of the story.

I think this genre in general – the horrors of gentrification, the racism and eviction at play – is a deep well of content, and I haven't seen/heard of many other stories like this. It's a great way to bring attention or a perspective shift to a topic while also providing a good story.

From reviews, and knowing Cole is a romance author, I expected a lot more on the romance front. I didn't exactly like the romance scenes, but it didn't take anything away from the story imo. Theo fell a little flat as a character, but I liked them as a pair, and I was very relieved that Sydney wasn't alone/totally isolated through everything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Genocide, Kidnapping, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, and Police brutality

additionally: bugs