Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

25 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

_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

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

It was a dark and stormy night… okay, but really—it was a dark and stormy night on an isolated island off the coast of Cornwall, where an estranged family has gathered for Nana Darker’s 80th birthday. Albeit awkward considering their weird family dynamic, a tense celebration of sorts ensues until Nana turns up dead at the stroke of midnight. One by one, the family members disappear accompanied by cryptic, poetic messages, but whodunit?? 

I can’t say too much without giving the whole story away, but this was a fun murder mystery! For sure a more modern take on Agatha Christie mysteries with a little “Knives Out” action. It also reminded me, at times, of “The Prestige” and “Shutter Island”. 

I will say that I guessed the final twists fairly early on, but still felt the satisfying shock when they were unveiled, as some pieces I definitely had not put together. 

The writing style was great, though I did find the book a little too long, and some of the flashbacks stunted the flow of the story a tad. Also, don’t go into this one expecting to like any of the characters—some I rather loathed, which was part of the point of course. 

Overall, a very on-brand read for Halloween season!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Abandonment, Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Alcohol, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Death, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Vomit, Sexual content, Animal death, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, and Cursing

sampetsdogs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Y'all, she did it again. Alice Feeney is the QUEEN of plot twists and Daisy Darker left my jaw on the floor. She kept me guessing the entire time! This book is so disturbing and intriguing and, honestly, mind-blowing. 100% recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Bullying

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Child death, Death, Grief, and Terminal illness

Minor: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Death of parent

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