Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

10 reviews

katwebb's review

dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse

augustinedreams's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Torture, Suicide, Stalking, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, and Toxic relationship

chellebell048's review

dark mysterious medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Medical content

jaydub0221's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Torture, and Gore

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Car accident, Dementia, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Vomit, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

katiea714's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Torture, Death, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Addiction, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Deadnaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Bullying, Alcohol, Car accident, Chronic illness, Classism, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol and Vomit

nickoliver's review against another edition

tense 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

2.75

I expected more from this. It was a bit boring, and not much happened, and I could see the plot twist from honestly pretty much the beginning. (And honestly,

the fact that the book was called "My Lovely Wife" didn't really help, either. It was a dead giveaway that Millicent was more sinister than the main character assumed

.) There were a few twists and turns that were intriguing, but Downing kind of concentrated on the wrong things all the time, and a lot of things didn't really make sense. For example, the reason why they started killing in the first place. (Also. Almost everything could've been prevented if the main character had actually communicated with his wife sometimes.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Stalking, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Gun violence, and Sexual content

oliverreeds's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

Millicent is a badass and she terrifies me. Wildin. I really enjoyed this book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Infidelity, Torture, and Violence

brittneyw9's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, and Torture

aleesquer's review

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Man: I love my wife so much she's so cool and sexy and I would murder people to see her smile
Anyone: so you would be honest to her about like. Basic things then?
Man: no ❤

Pros:

• the characters actually have to deal with being parents, rather than just having kids be in the background
• the relationship between Unnamed Man and Millicent is unexpected and really interesting
• less gore than I expected (this could also be a con, I guess, it depends on the reader)

Cons:

• miscommunication is way too common for it not to be annoying
  Bro, you and your wife kill people together. Would it hurt you to be honest about your credit card payments??
• I didn't actually like the ending? Yes, M is a bad person, obviously, but she clearly wanted the whole "2.5 kids picket fence" thing. Why would she mess that up on purpose? I get her throwing Unnamed Man under the bus to save her skin, but poisoning her kid?
• Unnamed Man cheating seems stupid when 1- it is almost certain she would find out, which he knows, and 2- he's head over heels in love with his wife (which is actually one of the things I enjoyed most about the book)
• Not enough info on Holly, imo

All in all, an enjoyable read! The dynamic between the two main characters was really interesting, and I'm excited to see what Samantha Downing writes in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Dementia, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Alcohol

alexandriasreads's review

adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

I haven’t binge read a book this long in quite a while. It was so hard to put down! Every time I thought I knew what was coming next, it took a different turn.
I do wish the resolution was a bit better, or maybe just longer, it seemed the set up took precedence. I did enjoy that last line, truly came full circle! Overall, pretty fun read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Suicide

Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent