Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

19 reviews

browsingthebooks's review against another edition

5.0

Totally gripping mystery. Unique format that forces you to play detective. Great for discussion!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Child death, Torture, Rape, Cancer, Trafficking, Murder, Drug use, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Excrement, Death, Addiction, and Child abuse

This was actually a really clean book as compared to a lot of contemporary mystery novels. Only a couple of curses in the whole thing. No sexual content. Most of the warnings I listed as minor were just references.

stepnic's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, War, Suicide, Infidelity, Infertility, and Cursing

jeffreydgrant's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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

Interesting structure but ultimately unsatisfying resolution to mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Chronic illness

bessadams's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Murder, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Medical content, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

calicat42's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-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? Yes

3.5

The structure was creative—a fun twist on the who dunnit genre.  At the start of the book, there’s no real information about what has happened, so instead of knowing what will happen and watching the characters figure it out, the reader only gets to know as much as the characters. Hard to put a book like that down! 

Although I fell in love with the structure, the content left me wanting a little. There were times where the plot moved quickly because the twists and turns were coming in every line. Yet there were times where I wished I could have read in x2 speed to move things along. I think this just comes to my preferences regarding mysteries; I don’t want to take my foot off the gas once the plot picks up! 

Overall, I enjoyed the read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Stalking, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: War

thepinkheather's review against another edition

funny 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Murder, Drug abuse, Chronic illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Cancer, Child abuse, Addiction, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

gemmie_gee's review against another edition

funny mysterious sad fast-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? Yes

4.0

Hiya! (Issy reference - I might start using that greeting now) I love a good murder mystery and it’s so refreshing to read it in this format! I will say it was hard in the beginning to find out who’s who, especially since there were 15-ish characters in the story that the reader had to keep up with. It was quite a whirlwind to read all of these emails and try to piece the story together. We don’t know who gets “murdered” until the last quarter of the book. I was hoping to guess who the murderer was, but I wish there was a bit more leeway to let the reader try to figure it out instead of having the two lawyers spell it out for the reader (or maybe I’m just dumb). But overall, I couldn’t put the book down. It’s one of my favorite books to read during my commute!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Murder, and Cancer

isabellalinares's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

It was such a fun read and the format was exciting. A great change of pace. Loved taking notes while reading to try and figure it all out. 

I've already recommended it to so many people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Death, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Cancer, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, and Toxic friendship

kellyeweber's review against another edition

funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer

Moderate: Mental illness, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Minor: Chronic illness

alisonannk's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Infidelity

Moderate: Death and Child abuse

Minor: Excrement