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Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Þernan by Nita Prose

163 reviews

emotional mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Maid is a difficult book to review. Like most mysteries, the first half of the book is set up and the second half is about revealing answers. Once I hit the midway point in this novel, I really started to enjoy it. It was fast paced, playful, and unexpected. I was incredibly invested, and had trouble putting the book down. At one point, I was crying while reading. 

All this said, I nearly didn’t get to the mid point of this book. The first half I found slow and difficult to read. I felt, at times, that the author did not trust the reader as certain points were repeated with a heavy hand.  Additionally, Molly’s social awkwardness plays a key role in this book, but it also feels over done to the point of caricature. 

I’ve seen other readers speculating on whether Molly is autistic. There is no point in the book where Molly is identified as such, and that’s honestly a good thing. It would be a very poor representation of an autistic person. 

As such— I give this book 3.5. While readers might have to weather the first half of the book, the  second half is a great read and incredibly fun. 

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Fine a bit — the main characters being somewhat strange and therefor similar. I liked that the narrator was morally grey, because she was a bit different than other people. I also found her naivety to be quite refreshing if not a bit unbelievable. All in all, a quick read that is interesting and well-written. 

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lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed this book! It’s not much of a mystery though, maybe 90% of the mystery is easy to glean as a reader and is just a mystery to the main character. This book is more focused on sharing the experience of a neurodivergent maid who discovers a dead body.  I really felt like I understood Molly and others like her through reading this book. It was sad to read about how people treated her for being different, and many even used her. But it was so heartwarming to see who her real friends were! My biggest reasons this book isn’t a 5:
- The way Molly and friends solved the mystery felt rushed and not super realistic. 
Like the fact that at 6:45 AM Molly is arrested, but by that evening all charges were dropped and Rodney was in custody?
It felt too easy of a wrap up considering all that Molly went through.
- The big reveal about the murderer was a little bit of a surprise, but not a satisfying one. It felt anticlimactic and ho-hum. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book and the exploration of Molly’s mind and relationships. But the mystery part of it was slightly above mediocre. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings