Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

61 reviews

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I was extremely into this story, and I appreciated the story the whole way through. The writing may have had a tiny edit for my preference, but I will definitely read this author again. Love a twisty tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death, Blood, Chronic illness, Bullying, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child death, Gore, Classism, Animal death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

natasyareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Hate crime, Grief, Gaslighting, Death, Abandonment, Cursing, Blood, and Bullying

Minor: Alcohol, Rape, Gun violence, and Body shaming

rose_reads_at_dusk's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I think this is the first thriller I have ever read, and might I just say 🤯
I had guessed quite early on part of the twist but there was definitely some of it that really was shocking 😳

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Daisy Darker’s family returns to Seaglass for Nana’s 80th birthday…but then they begin dying off one by one while trapped on the island at high tide, and family secrets come to light that will change everything.

This is my favorite of Alice Feeney’s novels so far! I’m a sucker for an And Then There Were None homage, and the setting/atmosphere of this one is absolutely perfect—seaside house, cut off from the world by a storm and high tide, and lots and lots of dead bodies piling up over one extra-creepy Halloween night. There’s also some very eerie poetry that really adds to the tension overall.

Most of all, I absolutely loved the writing style of this one—there are so many absolutely beautiful poignant quotes and brilliant details. And, while I won’t say more for fear of spoilers, I absolutely did not see the main twist coming (and audibly shouted at my book when it happened).

Highly recommend this to all thriller fans!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: locked room mysteries; dark family sagas; creepy seaside vibes

CW: Lots of death/blood/violence; discussions of terminal illness; discussion of animal death; physical and emotional abuse; suicide

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

ejoymiller11's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Rounded up from 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book and found it entertaining, but I do think it could’ve been better. The flashbacks to Daisy’s childhood, while providing some nice context, dragged on a little too much compared to the rushed ending. I understand the author was trying to help us understand the characters and their flaws, but it was so slow and dragged the pace down from the present-day murder mystery chapters. I definitely think we could’ve had quicker summaries of character flaws and used those extra pages at the end of the book. 
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The last 40 or so pages felt forced to me, like it was wrapped up a little too perfectly. While I love the twist of Daisy being dead the entire time (I totally had to go back and read some paragraphs!), I didn’t find Trixie’s motive realistic. I’m not sure I find murdering her entire family and turning herself into an underage orphan over a child aunt that died 15 years earlier believable. It just wasn’t compelling enough for me. I wish we had a longer ending and better explanation for Trixie’s motivations and justification. Nana’s made a little more sense to me, but it was still hard to find believable in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Murder, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, and Child death

Minor: Animal death, Pregnancy, Confinement, Infidelity, Abandonment, Bullying, Gun violence, and Sexual content

dayingst's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Abandonment, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Car accident

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicide, and Pregnancy

zalouis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Car accident, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Medical content, Abandonment, Addiction, Medical trauma, Bullying, and Grief

theimposter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide and Alcoholism

tylerrose15161's review against another edition

I love murder mystery books, but my god was this difficult to get into and couldn't hold my attention. The pace and the tone of the book/narration was so slow and dragged on. The thing I disliked the most was that the main character Daisy, whose POV you stay locked into throughout the book, she repeatedly states that "she has a secret" and other ominous claims that her family has holes in them, they're not what they appear to be, etcetera  etcetera. Which normally wouldn't be an issue, but when these statements get repeated 10 times within the first 4 chapters, it no longer builds suspense for the reader. Instead it gives off the same energy as someone who posts on social media that they've had a bad day and when someone reaches out to ask if they're okay, they respond saying they don't want to talk about it. So it's extremely annoying.

I ended up reading a summary breakdown of the book instead of actually reading it because of these reasons. And even going through the breakdown, I was still left uninterested.

As for the ending of the book, it did manage to surprise me by revealing a plot twist that I wasn't expecting. But at the same time, it wasn't enough to redeem the book itself. It left me with the feeling of "that's it?".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Car accident, Death, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

growintogardens's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

Feeney is good at making a creepy atmosphere, and I could visualize the house really well. I didn't love the twist.

It was something I thought about early, but dismissed it. I honestly think this would have been more enjoyable if she had survived instead of becoming a ghost, and lost the memory of the accident. It would have been more creepy and crazy imo, for them to still kill the family members because of Daisy's abuse, which is what I thought before the ghost reveal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Death, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Grief, Suicide, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy