Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

6 reviews

hollywobble's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Blood, Mental illness, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Deportation, Grief, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Gaslighting

mdavis26's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Excrement, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Racism, and Sexual content

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Racism, Police brutality, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Hate crime

Minor: Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Suicide, Vomit, Confinement, Dementia, Deportation, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

azariamckay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I found When No One is Watching to be a very interesting read but not for many good reasons. It took half the book to gain relevant action. I wasn’t much of a fan of the main characters and topics of race and gentrification felt like they were being told to me rather than shown in the book. I wasn’t that much of a fan but when things started to pick up around the 2nd half I found myself glued to the pages. The ending felt extremely rushed, and I wasn’t a fan of it. All and all, I’d say there were enough aspects of the book that made me interested and kept me going but I still felt it was a bit lack luster and infuriating at points. I will say there were a few twists I definitely didn’t see coming but the main twist was pretty obvious to me from the start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Racism, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Classism

mostlyliterate's review against another edition

dark funny informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Medical content

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Vomit

sarah984's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This starts out with a romcom atmosphere and then just keeps ramping up the tension. There were both laugh-out-loud moments and full-volume gasp plot twists. I've seen a few reviews that think the villains are too cartoonish but honestly, there's very little that an antagonist character says in this that I haven't seen a real-world white person say or come close to saying when they think no one is looking. Having the two POVs kept me guessing and also gave the author a way to impart the real-world info (eg about redlining) in a way that made sense with the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Dementia, Genocide, Slavery, Stalking, and Vomit