Scan barcode
gothmiku's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Car accident, Miscarriage, Abortion, Child abuse, and Child death
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Gaslighting, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Body horror, Fatphobia, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Chronic illness, Animal death, and Cancer
girl_in_the_books's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Dysphoria, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Miscarriage
jfield351's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Vomit, Blood, Sexual content, Chronic illness, and Child death
Moderate: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Body horror, Blood, Abortion, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Vomit, Grief, Cursing, and Car accident
Minor: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Cancer
criticalgayze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
A part of me wants to say that I now at least have an understanding of the CoHo craze, but this is her only thriller, and I truly cannot imagine reading a book by her that was just the romantic parts of this one.
I fully intended to give this book 1.5-stars because I am absolutely sick of the trope of painting PPD as some kind of villainous trait in women, but I think that, while the narrator is still disgustingly judgmental of the kind of psychological trauma pregnancy and childbirth can put a woman through, Hoover herself seems (maybe?) to have mostly redeemed her own complicity in the trope with the book's ending. (Although I am largely as confused as the narrator as to whether this is actually the case or not)
Speaking of the ending, talk about rushed. I felt like, throughout the book, the order of escalation was out of whack, there were largely spurts of tension in amongst the drudgery of straight white horniness as opposed to well built and sustained suspense, and that the culminating scene was over largely before I even realized it had begun.
tl;dr: Not good writing, but I tore through it in two days, so maybe there's something to be said for the Hoover phenomenon.
Graphic: Abortion, Child death, Murder, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Sexual content
Moderate: Terminal illness, Blood, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Cancer, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Car accident, Death, Alcohol, and Death of parent
_affairsofabibliophiliac's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Abortion, Child abuse, Cancer, and Child death
eliya's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Child death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Grief, Cursing, Eating disorder, and Violence
Minor: Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cancer, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts
ravenclaw_percabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Child death, Grief, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual content, Vomit, Misogyny, Ableism, and Car accident
Moderate: Abortion, Cancer, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Blood, and Domestic abuse
serenemoonn's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Sexual content, Child death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Vomit and Chronic illness
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Miscarriage, and Self harm
cathy_acasefullofbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
One of my biggest annoyances in this book (and others that do this same thing) is when a character discovers some interesting writing (letters, a book, or in this case, Verity's autobiography) and they take AGES to read it. A chapter a day? I'm not even a little bit convinced. Home girl would have binged that entire thing in an afternoon. You can't convince me otherwise. It was drawn out for the sake of the plot, but all it did was annoy me.
And we're not even going to talk about that ending. Seriously? There were so many better twists that could have happened that this was...just no.
The only reason that this got two stars from me was because I did read it in a day. It is addictive. But once I actually sat and thought about it, I kind of hated it.
Content warnings: descriptive and graphic descriptions of child abuse, death of a child, infidelity, open door sex scenes, language, attempted murder, murder, and probably more that I'm not thinking of right now...
Graphic: Sexual content, Infidelity, Child abuse, Abortion, Child death, Death, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Car accident and Cursing
Minor: Death of parent and Cancer
honeybunchesofoats06's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Vomit, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Child abuse, Death of parent, Mental illness, Grief, Alcohol, and Cancer