Scan barcode
diannemarini's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
First and most likely the last CoHo book for me.
What I didn't like
- Too much sex for a thriller book
- I'm taking a break from smutty books so I've been reading thrillers for now. It was just really off-putting for me because sex scenes always come up that it ruined the experience for me. Oh well, what did I expect from a CoHo book.
- Ending felt rushed
- It was just getting good and then that was it?
- The additional chapter "The Letter" just made it worse for me. It made the whole ending more confusing that it has to be. Yeah open ending but for what? Will it be in my head rent-free? Yes but not as a compliment.
- The additional chapter "The Letter" just made it worse for me. It made the whole ending more confusing that it has to be. Yeah open ending but for what? Will it be in my head rent-free? Yes but not as a compliment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, and Abortion
ep1512's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, and Car accident
tthatguyty's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The ending feels very unresolved. I have more questions than answers. Was a quick and easy read just feels like something is missing. Would have enjoyed more thrills and less intimidate scenes in detail.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Abortion, and Murder
mchristie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Murder, and Pregnancy
marmander's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I couldn’t put it down, but this book is an insane wild ride. It’s not the best written book to be honest? But there’s lots of twists and turns that make you want to finish it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Self harm, Violence, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
bella613's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was... definitely something.
I liked it until chapter 23. The last few chapters felt boring, rushed, and lazy after all the build up.
But actually I don't know if "I liked it" is quite the right way to put it. Reading this book gave me the same feeling as when you overhear a juicy piece of gossip about something horrible. It makes you dislike the person who did the thing, the people who are gossiping about it, and kinda also yourself for listening in. Every character in this book is so incredibly terrible (except maybe the children but they weren't well developed) and it felt more like I had to read it than wanted to.
The writing isn't great but Hoover definitely does a great job at making you love to hate her characters. Maybe the hype around her is hate-bonding, like when students group together in class because you hate the professor and the material and then after you leave and look back, it looks like a positive experience because of the community made within the hate.
Anyway, this was difficult to rate and I might change it later once I've had time to think about it. It's better than what I expected because I heard a lot of fuss over the author and wasn't interested because of that. A colleague suggested this book to me and I took a long time to actually pick it up. I don't think I'd necessarily recommend it but I am going to read more by the author (mostly because of the movie coming out lol)
Also can I just say: Colleen Hoover was marketed to me as a romance author. Unless the other books she writes are drastically different than this, she definitely is quite the opposite of a romance style writer...?? This is not romance (although not decisively thriller, either?) I would probably call it horror but tbh it doesn't fit great there either. Idk what to call it but there is zero romance whatsoever. Sex scenes, yes, and some weirdly obsessive lust from all the characters but not romance. Maybe the people hating on her and judging the authors morals based on her fiction books are just classifying this incorrectly 😂
I liked it until chapter 23. The last few chapters felt boring, rushed, and lazy after all the build up.
But actually I don't know if "I liked it" is quite the right way to put it. Reading this book gave me the same feeling as when you overhear a juicy piece of gossip about something horrible. It makes you dislike the person who did the thing, the people who are gossiping about it, and kinda also yourself for listening in. Every character in this book is so incredibly terrible (except maybe the children but they weren't well developed) and it felt more like I had to read it than wanted to.
The writing isn't great but Hoover definitely does a great job at making you love to hate her characters. Maybe the hype around her is hate-bonding, like when students group together in class because you hate the professor and the material and then after you leave and look back, it looks like a positive experience because of the community made within the hate.
Anyway, this was difficult to rate and I might change it later once I've had time to think about it. It's better than what I expected because I heard a lot of fuss over the author and wasn't interested because of that. A colleague suggested this book to me and I took a long time to actually pick it up. I don't think I'd necessarily recommend it but I am going to read more by the author (mostly because of the movie coming out lol)
Also can I just say: Colleen Hoover was marketed to me as a romance author. Unless the other books she writes are drastically different than this, she definitely is quite the opposite of a romance style writer...?? This is not romance (although not decisively thriller, either?) I would probably call it horror but tbh it doesn't fit great there either. Idk what to call it but there is zero romance whatsoever. Sex scenes, yes, and some weirdly obsessive lust from all the characters but not romance. Maybe the people hating on her and judging the authors morals based on her fiction books are just classifying this incorrectly 😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
klabardee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Grief, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy
ayushbibliophile's review against another edition
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? No
4.75
What a mind bending, headache giving book it is!The ending is like someone hammers me and left me to find out a way to stop the bleeding, whether she was a good person or a hell manipulator?! It just remains with you, inside you, maybe forever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder
skyfire's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.75
I flew through this book. I couldn’t wait to see what happened next, find out what really happened. Except, you may never know what really happened, as this book leaves you thinking.
I highly recommend this book, but it can be a lot for those not ready for some of its content. The only thing I didn’t really care for was Jeremy, who seemed liked a great dad, but to Verity and the MC (forgot her name, been a moment since I read it) he seemed like a trophy to win and I don’t feel like he was expanded upon much outside of caring for his kids and being a good time (if you know what I mean)
I highly recommend this book, but it can be a lot for those not ready for some of its content. The only thing I didn’t really care for was Jeremy, who seemed liked a great dad, but to Verity and the MC (forgot her name, been a moment since I read it) he seemed like a trophy to win and I don’t feel like he was expanded upon much outside of caring for his kids and being a good time (if you know what I mean)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual content
danneken's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
Deeply disturbing as a parent to read this book, and not at all believable! Hated the easy-out ending. Wouldn’t recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Abortion