Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

20 reviews

cyndi1966's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Confinement

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Going into this, this book isn't what I thought it was. Lemme tell you right now don't think you're getting insight into the story with the first chapter; it's sort of a misdirect. The story is not going to be following Travis as he finds Maggie. It will be following characters named Calla, Bee, and Theo and their complicated lives in Pastoral and the things they are starting to discover. Anything more I say will be reaching spoiler territory, but I wanted to state this in my review so people know what they're actually getting into when reading this book.

This book was marketed as a thriller, however, I don't think this book has many thriller elements. It's more of a "cozy mystery"/a thriller with very low stakes (w/ a bit of magical realism). I guessed the "twist". So I honestly understand why people would give this book 2 stars. There are not many exciting or "thrilling" (😂) events that happen in this book so I understand if you're reading this and are expecting excitement and suspense well just know that you won't be getting much if any of that. 

I'd like to start off by saying that I did like the author's writing. I think she writes really well, however, I usually like my thrillers to be suspenseful and this book wasn't that. So although these types of books aren't usually my cup of tea for some reason there was something about this one where I wanted to know more. And my intrigue is probably the only thing that kept me going, not gonna lie. I was expecting this book to be much darker than it was. The "cult" aspect wasn't as sinister as I was hoping it would be. And the ending was pretty underwhelming in my opinion

I wish we got more motivation as to why Levi was hypnotizing people. I felt like his character was pretty one-dimensional and he wasn't that compelling as a "villain". He was okay for the most part and then took a malicious turn which in my opinion wasn't executed properly. And the reason for Maggie going to Pastoral was so anticlimactic. But what really annoyed me was the fact that after all they did to leave that place they legit just went back after like two days. Like what was the point of them leaving then? I honestly feel like the previous storyline of Travis trying to find Maggie and discovering a cult and trying to get out would've made for a much better story than this.

Like I said before I understand why someone would give this book 2 stars. It was lowkey boring, but intriguing at the same time so 4 stars for me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Abandonment, Violence, Alcohol, and Grief

Minor: Cursing, Death, and Infidelity

matcha_cat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Alcohol, Blood, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Confinement, and Murder

lpdx's review

adventurous 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? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicide, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Infidelity

ashhearddwrites's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Blood, Pregnancy, Violence, and Suicide

Minor: Infidelity

amplawrence's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

litliz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

billyjepma's review

mysterious slow-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

2.0

God, I thought I'd never finish this. I picked up the audiobook of this almost on a whim, informed only by some positive reviews and the fact that it has a small cast of narrators, a feature I always enjoy. While it starts solidly enough, the plot quickly spirals into monotony. The story is little more than a conglomeration of tired true-crime trappings that meander in circles, devoid of memorable characters, meaningful tension, and satisfying payoffs. It's disappointing because the payoffs are interesting on paper, but the reasoning is so flimsy and half-baked that it feels like Ernshaw had to scramble at the end to come up with something.

The writing is mostly fine, despite some stylistic choices I didn't vibe with (no one should ever use "flesh" as often as this book does). There's a decent sense of environment and tone, too. I just spent most of the book waiting for something to happen, and when nothing did, wishing that it had more momentum so I could get to the end and move on.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Blood, and Gaslighting

Minor: Injury/Injury detail

gm_vak's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Violence, Ableism, Infidelity, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Medical trauma

kristie_deaver's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.5

I could not put this book down. I loved the mystery slowly unfolding, yet the book never feeling slow. My only confusion was timeline. There where times when I felt confused about when we were with Calla, Theo and Bee. Overall, I would have loved to see more diversity called into the book. This story is a chilling tale that will take you into the world of Pastoral; the only way out is through. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Pregnancy, Blood, Infidelity, and Gun violence