Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Brez nje by Lisa Jewell

81 reviews

janecassar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

The premise of this book is a child who is kidnapped/dead. About 2/3 of the way through the book, we find out that she is forced into pregnancy (I marked this as sexual assault, but not entirely sure), emotionally/physically abused, given numerous pet hamsters (which they talk about being dead), and briefly understand that the kidnapper is mentally ill and has suffered miscarriages/infertility. At the end of the book there is the death of a parent and death by suicide.

hannahvsd's review against another edition

dark tense

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.75

3.5 stars for writing. 1 star for story and content. I would never have picked up this book if it wasn’t a book club book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

shaleen64's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

An enjoyable thriller, that despite being predictable, remained an engaging read.

Whilst none of the characters are lovable in the traditional sense they are well explored which adds depth to the story.

The ending is what both Laurel and Poppy deserved but I couldn't help feeling some sympathy for Floyd. A good entry thriller, but if you enjoy shocking twists and turns maybe give this one a miss.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use and Suicide

erincies's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

It was a good well written fast read. Only reason I didn’t give it four stars is that I felt the ending wrapped up almost too perfectly for how horrific the dark parts were. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Pregnancy

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Murder

m_moon's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

knitswhilereading's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Grief, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

sophieamreacher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Brilliant, twisted, dark, sad. A real page turner. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ashlyncherie's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Average mystery. I was able to predict most if not all of the plot twists. I didn’t expect such a strong family drama element, and I actually liked it because it  gave all the characters good dimension and the ending was actually hopeful because of it.

I don’t find it believable that Floyd had no idea about Ellie and Poppy. He was so sinister and strange from the beginning, so to find out that he was just dumb was annoying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

ara_beg's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This was sooo fast paced and fun to read, and I REALLY wanted it to be a 5 star read, but in the end it did disappoint a bit. I wish there was more of a plot twist. Personally, I figured out the storyline just by reading the back of the book even before starting to actually read it. I was really wishing that there would be more to it, but in the end there wasn’t anything shocking revealed. The only twist I didn’t see coming was

that Hanna was seeing Theo

, and that wasn’t one bit significant to the storyline whatsoever, actually just a bit confusing why the author put that in there. There were some similar details in the book that just didn’t bear any significance and were a bit unnecessary. 

I feel like the writing was very good and I couldn’t put it down, was really intrigued. But it wasn’t a psychological thriller to me, more just like a devastating story about

a child being kidnapped and abused

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Eating disorder, and Miscarriage

hhanock's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Death

Moderate: Child death, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

Minor: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Stalking, and Murder