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bookslifeandeverythingnice's review against another edition
4.0
Baby Doll is an engaging story about a woman who was kidnapped as a teenager. The novel mainly revolves around Lily’s life after her escape; how she copes with media frenzy surrounding her, reuniting with her family including her twin sister, integrating her daughter to the real world, and trying to move forward with her life. The chapters are told from different people’s perspectives, which I thought worked well. It allowed the reader to understand how each family member was coping with the same situation. The novel has moments of intense action and then slows down to deal with the emotional aftermath of the situation. Lately there have been a fair amount of books centered around women escaping from their abductors and reclaiming their lives, but Baby Doll is not a cookie cutter story. Not by any means. There were some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. Overall, I highly recommend this book for it’s interesting plot lines, great storytelling, and realistic multi faceted characters.
blodeuedd's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked this one because it made me want to know how it would play out, and it would have been really good too, but...yeah the language felt overly simplistic, and the dialogue was cringey at times. They nicknames were like come on!
But hey a book can still be good, at least with it's simple language it was a really fast read and in truth that is what I needed. Something fast and simple that still hooks you and you just breeze through in a few hours. No need to dig deeper.
The end was building up to some true horror, so it did feel like a fizzle at the end when the end really came along.
Still, a good book that I could not put down despite the flaws it had.
But hey a book can still be good, at least with it's simple language it was a really fast read and in truth that is what I needed. Something fast and simple that still hooks you and you just breeze through in a few hours. No need to dig deeper.
The end was building up to some true horror, so it did feel like a fizzle at the end when the end really came along.
Still, a good book that I could not put down despite the flaws it had.
btpbookclub's review against another edition
5.0
I voluntarily reviewed an advance readers copy of this story thanks to Netgalley. I must start by saying this is the thriller of 2016 you NEED to read. Its brilliant. Fans of Gone Girl and Girl On A Train this is perfect for you. I was hooked from the first page and I finished the book in two days. It would not leave my mind, I never wanted to put it down. An amazing five star read from me. I've not been this excited over a story for a while. I cannot recommend or praise this book enough. Perfect characters, perfect family and the perfect ending. Beautifully written, easy to read and contains short chapters from each of the individual characters. I really hated Rick (the bad guy) so much which makes a book great. WOW. If you haven't already you need to buy this story. I'm not spoiling it for you, but I promise you will love it and not regret it. Amazing.
Baby Doll is perfect for readers who love an outstanding thriller, suspense and drama packed story. Enjoy, I loved it.
Baby Doll is perfect for readers who love an outstanding thriller, suspense and drama packed story. Enjoy, I loved it.
emjay24's review against another edition
2.0
Baby Doll seems like it might be like Room, but it’s not. Lily was captured as a teenager and held for 8 years, during which time she even had a child, Sky. Now she has escaped and realized she was just a few miles from home this whole time. The book shows her accusing the person who did it to her, and trying to bring him to justice, while staying safe, ducking the media, and dealing with issues with her twin sister from the past. It’s ok. Everything happens too easily and it ends up being a bit of a filler book. Not bad, but not good.
vkdarling's review against another edition
3.0
This book isn't life changing but it is a good story and keeps you "turning pages"!
camb0wles's review against another edition
2.0
This book was ok. It is no gone girl, like the blurb suggests. The story is predictable and lacks something but there are redeeming qualities that make this book worth reading. This is more a story about sisters than it is about a kidnapping and that relationship is written beautifully.
nannyf's review against another edition
3.0
I went into this book with no expectations. I don't tend to read reviews of a book until after I have read it, and in this case I am extremely glad I didn't on this occasion either. This is a definite love it or loath it book which has divided the readers right down the middle.
The start of the book reminded me a lot of Room, a book I read previously and really enjoyed. The similarities did remain with me for quite some time, but I also began to see differences coming through.
Lily is the main female character in the story, and although a strong character at times I felt she was somewhat indifferent to the whole situation. I would have expected someone who had been kidnapped and held captive for so many years, suffering horrific physical abuse throughout, to be more affected by it all.
The secondary characters do bring different strands to the story, but I almost felt that they were simply padding at times as their parts didn't appear to bring as much to the overall story as I assumed they would.
This was a well written story, but for me it doesn't quite reach its full potential.
I received a copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The start of the book reminded me a lot of Room, a book I read previously and really enjoyed. The similarities did remain with me for quite some time, but I also began to see differences coming through.
Lily is the main female character in the story, and although a strong character at times I felt she was somewhat indifferent to the whole situation. I would have expected someone who had been kidnapped and held captive for so many years, suffering horrific physical abuse throughout, to be more affected by it all.
The secondary characters do bring different strands to the story, but I almost felt that they were simply padding at times as their parts didn't appear to bring as much to the overall story as I assumed they would.
This was a well written story, but for me it doesn't quite reach its full potential.
I received a copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
voracious_reader_j's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
jessicacarlysinclair's review against another edition
2.0
This book is predictable and unrealistic.
Very little research went into understanding human psychology before writing this book. The main character, and those closest to her, are mostly untraumatized. The main character's daughter, who has only ever met her mother and captor (and presumably never left her captor's property), is bizarrely well-socialized and well-adjusted.
The book features first-person chapters where we get to look inside the mind of the evil captor... but there's nothing there. No valid justification for why he is the way he is, no humanizing qualities to make him believable, no morality or character development, no believable inner dialogue in response to events that occur - just plain, cliche evilness.
Also, the author either struggles from serious body image issues, or just generally hates fat people. The amount of times this book attacks fatness/fat women is absurd. Like let it go, lady. Love yourself.
Very little research went into understanding human psychology before writing this book. The main character, and those closest to her, are mostly untraumatized. The main character's daughter, who has only ever met her mother and captor (and presumably never left her captor's property), is bizarrely well-socialized and well-adjusted.
The book features first-person chapters where we get to look inside the mind of the evil captor... but there's nothing there. No valid justification for why he is the way he is, no humanizing qualities to make him believable, no morality or character development, no believable inner dialogue in response to events that occur - just plain, cliche evilness.
Also, the author either struggles from serious body image issues, or just generally hates fat people. The amount of times this book attacks fatness/fat women is absurd. Like let it go, lady. Love yourself.