Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Incidents Around the House

I went back and forth between audio and ebook formats. Ultimately, audiobook served my not-that-great-with-horror sensibilities best.

This was emotionally harrowing. Bela was so sweet and surrounded by so little real support. Her parents were frustrating through the end.

I was deeply troubled by metaphors that seemed to align with child grooming and sexual abuse, which leaves me very conflicted about how I feel about the book as a whole.

Content Warnings

kayrenee521's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

8 year old Bella lives with her mommy and daddo and they are her world. She however also has “other mommy “ an entity that lives in her closet and asks Bella every day if she can go into her heart. When her parents realize other mommy isn’t an imaginary friend and is in fact a real threat to their daughter they must take action to protect her.
Pros: This book is very atmospheric and I like how it tackles the challenges of motherhood, especially when you’re not sure you’re doing a good job. It was a fast easy read.
Cons: Bella is suppose to be 8, but she comes across as a much younger child ( maybe 5). The entire book is from her point of view and although that’s a novelty that works with some books I think this one could have benefited from alternative chapters from her mom Ursula. The style of writing was also very off. Every other sentence was mommy said or daddo said. I also felt the ending was very rushed and honestly confusing. I’m still not sure what happened. This is a solid 3 star, interesting but nothing terribly special. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the E galley. #netgalley #incidentsaroundthehouse #othermommy

Content Warnings

reading_hippo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

ticklemetiff's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Content Warnings

jmkendall0218's review

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

hauntedantiqueshop's review

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dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

Who the FUCK talks to their 8 year old kid like that? They’re straight up monologuing AT this kid.
Their kid is the ONLY kid at this random party her parents are throwing, where the adults are all openly drinking and half asses sneaking smoking weed and she’s the evening entertainment as a little dancer??? what kind of Shirley Temple shit is this. 🤨
What kid EXCLUSIVELY calls their father daddo? That isn’t a thing.
Of course they made the mom a whore that was annoying, it’s like the author wanted readers to WANT Other Mommy to kill her.
Coraline did the wholeOther Parent thing so much better.
Bela is an idiot. “They lied to me about something I was not developmentally able to comprehend so I can lie to them now and just let a demon inside me, that’s the same thing” GIRL NO
It was SO repetitive.
The idea of ruining innocence with parental infidelity and paternity to make someone unappealing to a demon (?) is so stupid to me. Those things feed on BAD feelings and they literally added fuel to that fire. Idiots.

All that being said, I did kinda like it tbh. I had a good time, got through it fast. It definitely could have been worse.

Content Warnings

sare1125's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

ravenpuff's review

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

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