Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

7 reviews

anxiousrage's review

tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

marissasa's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was full of stress, drama, and trauma. It starts out as a little bit of a murder mystery but gets more convoluted and tense as the plot thickens. Although we know that our main character is flawed and hiding secrets of her own, it was difficult for me to understand why she kept making bad decision after bad decision despite her being a very intelligent and successful lawyer. She doesn't trust anyone (rightfully so) but it was hard to keep up with her after she kept continually lying and digging herself into deeper holes with the people around her and the police investigating her. What happened with her brother made me so sad, and her tragic backstory made me even sadder. The true criminals were unfortunately very realistic and although she did get a hint of revenge at the end, it wasn't truly satisfying to me and I couldn't help but just feel sad and unfulfilled for her and the end of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Abortion, and Murder

bootsmom3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Abortion, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Dementia, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Stalking, and Pregnancy

lovelymisanthrope's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I read this novel because it was the Literally Dead Book Club Pick for April 2022. I really did not know what to expect from this book, because all I knew was the story follows a lawyer who finds her boss murdered in his office. 
"All Her Little Secrets" follows Ellice, a woman of color who fought through a lot of adversity to become a big lawyer in Atlanta. She has worked her whole life to leave her past in the past, and to create the image of the perfect woman who is a kickass lawyer. She has an ongoing affair with her boss, and one morning when she goes to meet him before work, she finds him brutally murdered, but it is staged to be a suicide. She decides it is best to leave the scene of the crime for someone else to discover. Ellice is offered her boss's job and is promoted to the top floor before his body is even cold. Now Ellice is trying to fight racism and show she deserves this top role, solve the murder of her once lover, and ensure all of her secrets stay secrets. 
I was interested in this story, but it did not keep me hooked on every page. I empathized with Ellice and her situation, especially as we learn more about her past, but I could not get past the fact that almost every decision she made seemed dumb. Why would you leave a murder scene, when you know you had nothing to do with it, it could not be linked to you, and you are a top lawyer? Then, she went on to continually lie to the police under the guise that "she is a lawyer and knows how to lie the right way". She infuriated me as a character. I do think the novel itself is well-written, and the story had some great twists that kept the plot moving. I think I might have enjoyed the story a whole lot more if it was told from a different perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, and Grief

deepcurvesahead's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Classism

lilydoyle6's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this one. If you liked How to Get Away with Murder with Viola Davis & co you'll love this. A corporate lawyer has secrets in her past that threaten to take everything she's worked so hard for. This is pretty fast paced once it starts going, which I always love in a thriller. It deals with necessary and difficult themes, such as racism, corruption, white terrorism, etc. 

I didn't see a lot of it coming and I'm glad I didn't spend this one trying to figure it out and let it unfold naturally. The author does a great job of blending the past/present together and ultimately showing the importance of embracing your past--even if you might be ashamed of it. Although, I guess if you

murdered somebody in the past, that small detail might need to stay buried, pun intended, for legal reasons

But where we come from shapes who we are and you can't really run away from that no matter how hard you try.

This is a solid debut. I enjoy legal thrillers and it holds more weight when a lawyer is the writer. Morris writes well and I definitely look forward to more books from her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racism, Violence, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicide, and Abortion

liblibby's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was super fun and exciting. I couldn't wait to see how it was going to play out. There were some parts that were a little repetitive but the satisfactory plot-twists made up for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Antisemitism, Dementia, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Abandonment