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alilbitofmonica's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Moderate: Child abuse, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual assault
spaghettireads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The sub-genre of historical fiction that generally features women looking away on the cover is not one that I usually reach for. While I did find the writing in this relatively engaging, and I did want to keep reading it to find out what the twist was at the end, I thought that the book had a lot of issues. Perhaps the fact that a real life historical tragedy has been written with the vibe of a mystery is the problem. As one of my friends pointed out, it felt as though just everything bad possible was happening to the characters.
And while I said that I was waiting for the final details to be revealed at the end, a lot of the book felt very predictable. My book club also talked about how the portrayal of people of colour, and mostly Black people in this story was pretty terrible.
So, as I said I wouldn’t recommend this. Thanks as always to my book club friends for a great discussion 😊
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence
finding_time_to_read's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
emakay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Dementia, and Kidnapping
Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Vomit
book_perk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse
morgan_elizabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Dementia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Miscarriage
ladev12's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Alcoholism
morganperks's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia
giulia_and_books's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
I wanted to know how the present timeline and the past timeline met up in the end. I’m not usually one for multiple timelines and POVs, but Wingate handled it really well in this story. Typically I tend to want to focus on just one story line more than the other, and while I did find the past more interesting than following Avery around, I didn’t mind the bits and pieces of the present that added to the rich story from the past.
I have to mention that I love Wingate’s author’s note and guide in the back of the book. It was really interesting to read about how the Foss family came to fruition in her mind and how the characters found their voices.
I would recommend this book to most people, if they can handle the heavy trigger warnings and reality of this novel.
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Torture
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia
ifersinklings's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infertility, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault
Minor: Trafficking and Torture