Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

دوشیزگان by Alex Michaelides

106 reviews

glammster's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship

Minor: Car accident

jen1804's review against another edition

4.0

dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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A good dark academia thriller with a decent mystery exploring Greek mythology and secret societies at Cambridge University. The plot does a good job of keeping you suspicious of multiple characters and keeps you guessing. Whilst the person responsible for the murders was definitely on my suspect list, I wasn’t able to unravel the full plot line and there was definitely a twist I wasn’t expecting. Unpredictability is always a good thing when it comes to mystery novels and this one kept me engaged, wanting to find out what happens next, with good suspenseful tension created at times.
Plus I’m a nerd for character crossovers so I was very pleased to see Theo make an appearance from Michaelides’ other novel The Silent Patient.
Satisfactory ending? Yes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Grief, Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Drug use, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

wandasss's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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Super enjoyed this one. I didn't expect the twist like at all, but I'm also garbage at trying to figure out mysteries. Mariana is a good unreliable narrator, and l liked seeing her growth by the end. The ending did feel a little rushed and not entirely tied up, but I liked the reveal of who the letter/journal writer was. I feel bad for all the girls in the book who are victims of death and manipulation. 
There are some heavy topics within so def check out content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

londonbridget98's review against another edition

3.0

dark tense slow-paced

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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someone explain to mr michaelides what the difference between show and tell is please

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Drug use

itsheyfay's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization

Minor: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Classism

mheiling's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism

cosycourtney's review against another edition

2.0

fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Please consider trigger warnings before reading this book. I went into The Maidens with fairly low expectations and indeed find it quite stupid in the end. I really enjoyed the Silent Patient but that was a time before I think I read critically or with conscience. Not to discredit my previous enjoyment but I just can’t turn off that part of my brain anymore (unless it’s fantasy smut x). I’m always very weary of a male author writing about the brutal deaths of young women; even more so when an adult woman is painted as crazy and is casually harassed along the way. Without spoiling the book I’ll just say, only a man would write an ending as such. I don’t think any female with an experience of any similarity would approach such a topic as is explored here. I found the inclusion of weird men like Henry & Fred to be lazy and the fixation on the professor got a bit boring towards the end. The big reveal was only half shocking because and I would have liked a bit more show than tell. Overall, it was fine, if you enjoy a mindless thriller definitely give it a read. If you can’t stand the suffering of women for mindless entertainment, I’d say give it a miss. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment

taylorpg's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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The Maidens is a book about loss and lack of control. Our main character is a group Psychotherapist currently recovering from the tragic death of her husband. She receives a call from her niece/adopted daughter in Cambridge saying a student has been killed. Mariana decides to visit and that’s where our story begins.

The book was giving “I listen to a crime podcast so I know what I’m an expert” except our main character is a psychologist so she thinks she knows how murderers think. Although it is communicated with her many time to stay out of it she takes it upon herself to get involved and solve the murders.

There’s a very interesting yet obvious dialogue around death and how fate pulls her strings and gives us no control over it.

Overall I thought it was good for a semi-quick read, the audio book is only 9 hours long so it’s on the shorter end. But I really didn’t think it got too interesting until the last 30 minutes. The twist was good but there wasn’t really any suspense throughout the rest of the book. The red herrings were unnecessary and didn’t blend into the story as well as they could have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Stalking

Minor: Animal death

amelodyrose's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault

Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse