Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

40 reviews

cpachet's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

If you like Alice Feeney, this book does not feel like her other works. Typically I find she’s good at surprising me as a reader, but within the first few chapters, I predicted a major twist and spent the rest of the book until the reveal looking for clues to support my theory (I say this not as a brag, but because I was disappointed and felt unmotivated to keep reading). Few of the characters are redeemable

so when they started dying off one by one, I didn’t care and more relished their deaths. When Lily finally kicked it, I rejoiced. What an awful POS. Nana was cool and aside from Daisy, hers was the only death I was saddened by.

It’s a tragic tale of shitty parenting and monster siblings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Abandonment, Car accident, and Animal death

sunsetcity's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

theonlybaillie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Wasn't amazing, wasn't awful.

I enjoyed my time with it, but I wouldn't reread it.

Deeply okay.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Chronic illness and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Gun violence, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

_savannahreads_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Murder, Body horror, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gun violence, and Medical trauma

mysterymom40's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Addiction, and Gore

Minor: Infidelity

blackcatkai's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

CW: death (adult and child), child abuse, alcohol and drug use, addiction, suicide, sexual assault, mental illness, chronic illness, blood, violence, ableism

a mystery suspense novel with a supernatural bend. some of my favourite things are here like rich people family drama, murder, and a sweet dog who does NOT come to harm! 🥳 so fret not, friends! if you like the Clue movie with a little halloween spooky vibe and secrets all over, then give this one a shot. I really enjoyed it!

some parts were a smidge repetitive and I'm not entirely sure I'm the biggest fan of the very end, but I had fun, and thats all that really matters, overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Ableism, Addiction, Child death, Child abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Suicide, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Drug use, and Alcohol

bookshelf_al's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Alcoholism

amandaglowgetter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Bullying

Minor: Fatphobia and Body shaming

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

OH MY GOODNESS, I was not expecting this story! I read "Rock, Paper, Scissors" last year and loved it, so "Daisy Darker" has been on my radar, but I tried to not read too much about it before I could pick it up, and boy am I happy that I went into this story not knowing much of anything. 
"Daisy Darker" follows a woman named Daisy as she and her family return to her grandmother's house on the eve of her grandmother's 80th birthday. Her grandmother was told by a palm reader that she will not live past 80, and she has long believed this to be true. Before she passes away, she wants the family to be together one last time so she can share her will with the Darker clan. Daisy has always had a special relationship with her grandmother and has always felt like an outcast from the rest of her family. Daisy was born with a heart defect, and she was always kept safe inside, but she also felt like her family did not love her because of her heart, except for her grandmother. Her grandmother's home is on a remote peninsula that during high tide is inaccessible. Now, with the whole Darker family trapped, people start dying one by one, and no one knows who the killer might be. 
This book took me a little while to get into (about 70 pages), but once I was invested, I read the rest of the book in one sitting. Most of the Darker family is absolutely horrible and you are almost happy to see them die, but you are still so curious to uncover who the killer is. I did not see most of the twist coming, and I ended up screaming when the big and final twist was revealed. I was so heartbroken the entire time for Daisy because her family has always treated her so terribly. Her sisters were vicious to her, and her parents were absent. Daisy had both literally and figuratively a broken heart and it was devastating to see. 
I LovED this book and I hope everyone reads and loves it as much as I did!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

kimveach's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

This book took a long time to get to the big reveal.  While I liked the ending, I thought about quitting this book many times, which isn't good.  I much preferred the author's "Rock Paper Scissors."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death