Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

63 reviews

auntiesoshul's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Racism

helloiloveyellow's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

engrossing thriller rooted in history, Get Out meets gentrification 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

Moderate: Classism, Gaslighting, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Confinement, Police brutality, Death of parent, Death, and Domestic abuse

cnricochet's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Gaslighting, Stalking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Police brutality

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Slavery, Lesbophobia, Addiction, Abandonment, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

tillysg1's review

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

I feel that one character had a fair amount of growth and development while another didn't.  Overall, the story was good, the twists were interesting.  The character of the neighborhood and the personal look at race issues is what really caught me here.  Great look at neighborhood culture and what that loss can look/feel like.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Sexual content, Police brutality, Racism, and Cursing

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Addiction, and Xenophobia

Minor: Deportation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Bullying, Death, and Slavery

One short, but quite graphic sex scene (would be easy to skip if you prefer)

jpoe_16's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Alcohol, and Addiction

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Gun violence

vaguely_pink's review

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Police brutality, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Hate crime

Minor: Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Suicide, Vomit, Confinement, Dementia, Deportation, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

shaqydoo's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Death of parent, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Police brutality, Addiction, Death, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Medical trauma, and Murder

cooper_reads_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Physical abuse, Blood, Classism, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Slavery, Medical content, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Minor: Deportation and Forced institutionalization

caitlyn_rehs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, Bullying, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Hate crime, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Grief

sydneyraereads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Sydney Green is watching her neighborhood change right before her eyes. Her life-long neighbors are up and leaving, white people are moving in and renovating, and businesses are changing hands whiplash quick. Her plan to learn and share about the history of her neighborhood joins her with new white resident, Theo. This story is emotionally-gripping and unapologetically tense. 

All I knew about this book going in was Alyssa Cole is typically a romance writer, this thriller paints gentrification as the entity of evil, and the main character had the same name as me. This is a new favorite, hands down. I was quite literally on the edge of my seat during the latter half of this book and totally enthralled during the first half. I sat and devoured this in one sitting.

I have seen some complaints that the pacing was off for a thriller. I don't read a lot of thrillers, so I can't speak from genre experience. However, the pacing was absolutely on for me. It felt like things were consistently happening and the teetering between the mundane and the extreme was expertly done. Sydney's anxiety was heart-racing and Theo's openness was palpable. The beauty of this neighborhood was so vibrant and rich without distracting from the fact that this was a story under mysterious circumstances. I'm also not mad about the ending because it

was basically just the physical culmination of all the injustice and felt truly like reparations despite the multiple homicide with no follow up consequences being somewhat unbelievable

I honestly have no critiques. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Racism

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol