Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

221 reviews

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

jessi_lou95's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Mental illness

emmad861's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Take this review with a grain of salt, at least in the pacing department, because this was the first time properly listening to an audiobook, which obviously takes much longer than regularly reading. That probably warped my perception of its pacing.

I read this book for my book club and I was not entirely looking forward to it. I'm not in an era of my life where I'm looking for mystery as a genre and I'm not really into true crime, which is what this seemed to be adjacent to at first. This seems similar to the other thriller/mystery I've read for my book club, The Silent Patient, where the author thought up the twist first then wrote the book around it. Like the author thought, hey, wouldn't it be fucked up if

a teenager was kidnapped and forced to have a baby?

That's my book, now I just have to write the rest of it. Maybe that's how all mystery/thriller books are, and if so, I just don't love that kind of storytelling. 

I think this story would've been great as a novella or maybe even a short story. I didn't need that much detail. I'm sorry.

The descriptions of Noelle keeping Ellie in her basement just felt like torture porn at some points.

I guessed that there was maybe a supernatural explanation,

like Poppy being a genetic clone of Ellie or something

, I think just because I wanted to escape how sad it actually was. If I wasn't reading this for a book club I think I might've DNFed it. I can appreciate and enjoy emotional stories but I was struggling to get through

Noelle's POV

and struggling to enjoy myself at all. It was satisfying at the end of course but was it satisfying enough to make it worth it? I don't know. I don't think so. 

I teared up at one point when

Laurel left her apologetic voicemail to Hannah. That was the most touching part to me. And Hannah's wedding made me tear up as well. Along with Ellie's letter in the epilogue.

Even if I didn't completely love the story at that point, I had spent so long with the characters that I couldn't help but care for them.

I get that Noelle is literally unhinged and all that but, really, all that for Floyd? Because he wrote some math jokes??? Girl raise your standards. All that for a man??? Delusional behavior. Goofy even.

And when Laurel was watching the video Floyd left her at the end all I could imagine was her going "I don't give a shit about your childhood just tell me about how your ex killed my daughter please. Jesus Christ." Like, do you think she cares about your life story?? She's got other shit to worry about. Anway-

At the end of the day, I have to give this book props for the emotion it was able to inspire in me, even if it sometimes felt like too much. My primary purpose for reading is enjoyment, and I will admit that I sometimes would rather read something fluffy and light than something with more depth and sadness if it's going to ruin my day. I've got enough shit to worry about it my own life. But I'm sure people really into mystery and abduction stories would really love this book. And shoutout to Helen Duff who narrated the audiobook on Spotify, I loved your voices. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Pregnancy

ellieisreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, and Child abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide, Stalking, Rape, and Murder

tetrootz's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Stalking, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Alcohol, Grief, Rape, Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Child death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Sexual assault