Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Maid by Nita Prose

25 reviews

memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

inspiring sad 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? Yes

4.0

really easy to read. did not realise mc was going to be on the autism spectrum. whilst it’s not said explicitly it’s heavily implied and it hurts having to watch her get manipulated by those around her but it was soothing to know she had others around her that did genuinely care about her
i loved the plot, really enjoyed

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Death

Minor: Abandonment, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Death of parent

danikajoan's review against another edition

dark lighthearted mysterious sad slow-paced

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

1.0

I had assumed that the author of this book was neurodivergent, like her main character, and when I found out she wasn’t it seemed like such a weird choice, especially with the way she chose to write Molly, who reads like Amelia Bedelia most of the time. The mystery itself isn’t anything especially interesting, and if I wanted a charming British whodunnit I should have just re-read Thursday Murder Club 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Abandonment, Deportation, Drug abuse, Death, Ableism, Chronic illness, Cancer, Classism, Medical content, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

   Molly, a neurodivergent maid, finds the rich and mean Mr. Black dead in his bed. It turns out he was murdered. And Molly ends up under suspicion for his murder. But some of the people at the hotel are not who they seem. And they may have used Molly's neurodivergence to their advantage. 
   I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I know some said it was inconsistent, but I find that, as a neurodivergent person, I can see how her seemingly very shifting rules don't shift as much as they seem to do to some people. I know that certain rules in my mind are different than how a "normal" person may have their rules. And once you get to the end it all makes sense, at least to me. 
   I didn't guess the killer, though I guess another one of the "plot twists" (the one with her grandmother.)

Narrator Rating: 3.5 stars
  She did a decent job but for most of the book she had kind of pout to her voice which was childlike and annoying for a 20-something woman.

Elemental Levels:  Fluff-3.5/5  Heartfelt-3/5   Helpful-NA     Horror-NA  Inspiration-NA  
Love aka Romance-2/5   Mystery-5/5     Predictability-2.5/5   Spice-NA    Suspense-2/5    Tear- 3/5  Thrill-1.5/5  Humor-1/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Misogyny, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Violence, Classism, Mental illness, Alcohol, Death, Gaslighting, Racism, Grief, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Deportation, Ableism, Cancer, Sexism, Chronic illness, and Confinement

Moderate: Torture, Gun violence, Murder, Drug abuse, Suicide, Body horror, Addiction, Police brutality, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Xenophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, and Medical content

savreads28's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Drug use, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

courtneys_reading's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense 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? No

4.5

I really enjoyed this! I was not expecting the twists that happened either.

Also not gonna lie, I thought this was set in England for the longest time while reading. It gives British vibes but then they talked about the Olive Garden lol. Still, cute. 

Only 4.5 stars because I felt like

Molly went from not being able to read anyone at all to being able to read everyone in about two minutes. And it was a tad predictable.

But would still recommend as it was an enjoyable read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Domestic abuse, Murder, Bullying, and Chronic illness

Minor: Cancer and Deportation

rubellaface's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Very cute whodunnit with a very interesting premise-- a neurodivergent maid gets caught in the middle of a murder investigation and becomes a suspect when people take advantage of her. 

But the rest the read was a bit off-putting because the author is neurotypical, and I wasn't sure if she was doing a service or disservice to the autistic community. The author took inspiration from when she taught special needs children, but honestly I just read 'Yellowface'and I hope a sensitivity expert was involved... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Bullying, Ableism, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Sexism, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Mental illness, Alcohol, Bullying, Police brutality, Murder, Chronic illness, and Racism

madamenovelist's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cancer, Classism, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse

The heroine has overt autistic traits (and possibly OCD traits? it’s unclear what the author’s intent was) but the manner in which her neurodivergence is handled was vaguely… flat. Like a caricature rather than a real person. I’m not sure if the author had a sensitivity reader/discussed what it’s like to be autistic with actual autistic people. Fantastic premise that would have made 5 stars if neurodivergence was handled with better care.

caitc90's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

The story of a young maid who has trouble distinguishing between who’s good and bad. Her willingness to help “friends” gets her into some serious trouble, but it’s that same quality that ends up changing her life for the better.

It was a slow-ish story of a maid doing her job, being “weird”, naive and ending up in trouble with the police. I didn’t think it would be very exciting but I ended up enjoying the couple twists at the end. Some bits were pretty predictable *cough* Rodney sucks *cough* and some parts felt forced, like the relationship at the end but I did enjoy the easy read mystery.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Deportation, Murder, Chronic illness, and Toxic friendship

misskitty14's review

emotional funny 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

Many murder mysteries are helmed by a neurodivergent detective (Holmes, Poirot, Monk), but most of them rarely get into how their mind works and even fewer acknowledge the challenges faced by these characters' disability (their attention to detail is simply a superpower). The main character of the novel, Molly Gray, is neurodivergent but this does not make her a superhuman detective. Instead, the reader comes to realize how much Molly doesn't see or understand because of the way her mind works. It can be frustrating at times to watch as she trusts the wrong people and misunderstands situations that are very obvious to the rest of us.  I've heard many people with neurodiversity discuss how they hate that their disability is oftentimes represented as a superpower rather than an actual disability (comedian Fern Brady has a whole stand-up about it). Overall, I found this aspect of the novel to be incredibly educational and led to increased empathy on my part.

The reason I don't give this book 5 stars is because of the ending. Prose fell into the classic murder mystery trope of keeping valuable information from the reader.

From the beginning our main character knows who killed Mr. Black (it isn't anyone ever put on our radar) but never tells anyone or discusses it in her own mind.

Before I got to the end of the novel, I thought I figured out the answer, which seemed very obvious from the beginning, but I was impressed by how the pieces had come together. Instead, like all other murder mystery authors before her, Prose decides to justify a left-field answer by withholding information from the reader, information that should be known to us since we are inside Molly's head.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Bullying, Terminal illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

mercy killing

dev921's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Murder, Gun violence, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Cancer, Infidelity, Alcohol, and Abandonment