Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

56 reviews

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

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

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

kumquats87's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Vomit, and Police brutality

ahopper7's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Racism, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

thelibbyshow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol

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

sydapel's review against another edition

dark informative tense slow-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? No

3.0

I was super looking forward to this being a unicorn amongst the list of thrillers I am always let down by. Unfortunately, either just because of hype or that this is really not a genre for me perhaps ever, I was pretty disappointed. I will say that the sister element of racism and gentrification is handled very well, and I had a couple of moments (as a white person living in a city that is increasingly gentrified) where I had to reexamine a lot of things I thought were true. The plot feels very realistic, but my issue is mainly that it took far too long (in my opinion) to get to it's point - aka the thriller stuff. Sydney and Theo also were not characters I felt myself really rooting for, mostly because it takes so much of the book for us to get to know them. 

TLDR - if you like mystery/thrillers and haven't checked this one out, do it! I, however will be loving in my historical romance bubble for a bit more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, and Police brutality

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

zoiejanelle's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

(listened to audio book from library)

i am not a thriller girlie but i happened to see Stephen King’s tweet recommending this book and i said, “romantic thriller? okay, let’s do this.” 

and OH MY GOD was it worth it. 

this book is REAR WINDOW meets GET OUT, Hitchcock meets Peele. it carries all of the best parts of the classic thriller genre, but was driven by a timely subject: gentrification. 

i was immediately obsessed with both narrators and how unreliable they both were, even when they tried to be truthful. Sydney and her many secrets and insecurities was lovable from the get, and Theo—poor Theo—was simultaneously hilarious and romantic in all his goofy, well-meaning but off-putting gestures. somehow the combination of the two, one extremely distrusting and suspicious woman and one extremely maleable and dishonest man, was perfect. i was rooting for them the entire time. 

the plot twists were very well timed. twist after twist, i audibly gasped. at one point i had to pause to soak in the information i’d just read. 

overall, a true thrill that made me glad i genre-hopped. thanks Stephen King for the rec. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Minor: Racial slurs and Deportation

leebeeloves's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Police brutality, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

pj_steph's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I overall enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the writing of this book. My favorite parts of the story were discussing the history of gentrification and going in depth on the horrors of the people who live in the neighborhoods. I will say the pacing was a little off. The beginning was a bit slow, but the ending felt REALLY rushed. I thought the middle had the best pacing. The mystery started to pick up and pieces were starting to come together, but then it kind of snowballed at the end. I'm definitely adding more Alyssa Cole to my TBR!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Police brutality and Alcohol