You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Þernan by Nita Prose

275 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. 

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was an enjoyable, fast read. Molly, the main character, felt like she was fully realized and had been thoughtfully written. I really enjoyed the premise of Molly having some sort of social processing challenges, without it ever being named specifically. I liked all the characters I was meant to like and would read about that band of friends again. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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
mysterious reflective slow-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

I'm not autistic, so keep that in mind while reading my review.

This writing style, this style of writing about neurodivergent/autistic people has been so overdone and to me it's nothing less than dehumanising. As other reviewers have pointed out, we're supposed to believe this takes place in the present (which I couldn't believe throughout the whole book) and still, not one character thinks "Hey maybe Molly isn't just quirky & annoying, maybe there's some autistic traits here".

I have friends who have autism, you probably have too and it serves none of us if they keep being portrayed as these quirky people who have no clue how to interact with others and seem to have completely different thought patterns — it just divides us even more.

The writing style distracted me from the whole mystery but honestly it wasn't life-changing either.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
lighthearted mysterious medium-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: Yes

Was a decent read but nothing special. Didn't really feel any emotion or connection to any of the characters so found myself not being fully invested. Guessed most of the plot but not the final reveal which was a bit of a shame because I like to be kept on my toes reading a mystery book. 

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

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings