Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

53 reviews

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

tharumi's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Child death, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Car accident, Death of parent, and Suicide

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

sarahmae531's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

This book was a rollercoaster ride. There were times I couldn’t put it down and other times I couldn’t get myself to pick it up. 
The last maybe third of the book flew by for me. I had a few predictions on what the twist would be and I didn’t fully figure it out, which is always nice. 
It loses a few points for me just because I’m not a big fan of what the final twist was in books

(i.e. a character being a ghost but somehow one special person can see them)

but I thought that for the “trope” (if you can really call it that), it was well executed, well explained, and kept me on the edge of my seat towards the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical trauma, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Addiction

savvylit's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

Daisy Darker is a tough book to rate, honestly. As a thriller, it's quite entertaining and does a good job of maintaining suspense. The conclusion and reveal genuinely surprised me! I had guessed the murderer but not the circumstances. If you enjoy fast-paced mysteries, you'll probably enjoy this! The mystery itself is a four-star idea & execution.

Though I did appreciate the suspense and homages to Agatha Christie, the actual quality of writing in Daisy Darker is not great. To the point where it frequently bothered me as a reader. I rolled my eyes at many narrative decisions. When describing Daisy's family or her past, every paragraph is absolutely LOADED with similes and metaphors. This is not a direct quote but will give you an idea of what I mean: "if families are a tapestry, ours was frayed beyond repair." The first several chapters include sentences like that multiple times within single paragraphs. It's incredibly heavy-handed. We get it! The Darker family is deeply dysfunctional.

Furthermore, the chapters tend to conclude with sentences that serve as ridiculously transparent attempts at cliffhangers: "and that was a night I'll never forget" or "my sisters' relationship was never the same again." Almost every chapter ended that way and it was so unnecessary. The cliffhanger-esque details become obvious later anyway! Again with heavy-handed narration. Just tell the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Medical content, Violence, Child death, Medical trauma, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Sexual assault and Body shaming

cheerful_bursts's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Gun violence

Minor: Suicide and Sexual assault

amplawrence's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Gun violence, Child death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual assault

jennyoli96's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Medical content, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Cursing and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death and Body shaming

phantasmaboo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

Overall, I very much enjoyed Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney. The only issue I had was with the pacing. If the author intended for the primary twist of the story to be shocking, she spent too much time in the middle of the book laying out breadcrumbs for it to come as a surprise, and it weighed the book down. That being said, I didn't guess the ending completely and I thought the book was surprisingly emotional and I felt myself fighting back tears. I think this book is a strong 3.5 and definitely worth a read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Suicide, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship

gabileite's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• 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

Minor: Sexual assault and Pedophilia