Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

11 reviews

sierrabedwell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a great read that told a chilling story. I did predict the ending, but I thought it was still a great book. I was sad for Elle the entire book and found myself gasping when I found out all of the things that happened to her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Miscarriage, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infertility, Pregnancy, Suicide, Grief, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Blood, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Stalking, Violence, Child death, Sexual assault, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, and Trafficking

crowray's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i loved the twists in this book i hate when i can guess but a few of them really caught me by surprise. the characters felt fleshed out and human and the emotion and writing was brill. didn’t feel very tense apart from towards the end but that’s really the only thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Death, Gore, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Violence, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Mental illness

norwegianforestreader'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Abandonment, Animal death, Car accident, Child abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Alcohol, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

kimveach's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

Good, creepy thriller. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

kccool12255's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Original (3.25 stars): 

I kid you not when I say this is literally one of the most messed-up books I have ever read. The Liars series had bad stuff like this IN those books, BUT THE PLOT TWISTS MADE SENSE. This book literally feels like a fever dream. I can’t even put it into words. The only thing I can say is that it spellbound me. I literally COULD NOT put it down, I HAD to know how it ended. Just…I can’t. I don’t know what else to say. This book sucked.

Although it’s SO CUTE how Poppy calls Laurel Mama.

Still bad, though.

Revisited (4.0 stars): 

Yes, I reread it. And BOY OH BOY, I was READY for it this time. 

I think that for books like this, you really have to know what you're getting into. You need to know what level of disgusting, messed-up crap is gonna be in these types of books before

you're reading about a girl who gets kidnapped and unknowingly, WITHOUT HER CONSENT, gets inseminated with some random dude's sperm bought on the dark web. This book is MESSED. UP.

you dive straight in. There needs to be DISCLAIMERS. I know that there's content warnings on here, but they should have something actually IN the book before you read it, so you don't go in blind. I don't know, that's just my personal thoughts. 

That being said, for this genre? Then She Was Gone is MASTERFUL in its storytelling, and I think it paved the way for a lot more books like it, like I Invited Her In by Adele Parks. I'll have to fact-check that, but the two fall in the same category. However, where I Invited Her In is basically just a bunch of things happening in quick succession, Then She Was Gone is actually a narrative that is woven through multiple different time frames, and just about EVERYTHING ties together in the end. It's very smart, and honestly just very good writing. 

However, I still take issue for the multiple side character storylines that were unnecessary and kind of stupid. WHY did Hanna have to get with and MARRY Ellie's old boyfriend? That is...a lot, and frankly, it's disrespectful to Ellie on both of their parts. With Theo, WHY would you date your missing girlfriend's SISTER? With Hanna, WHY would you date your missing sister's BOYFRIEND? It's VERY unrealistic, and I do not like the storyline any way you slice it up. It's weird, and kind of gross. And WHY did Sara-Jade need to be having an affair with a MARRIED man TWICE HER AGE? And did she need to be a nude model, or whatever the heck she is? She's just a really weird character, she could've been much better but Lisa Jewell held back.

 

Ellie is very well-written for being a teenager, and no one can fault her for the mistakes she makes that lead to her downfall. You can feel genuinely bad for her and what she goes through down in that basement. 

Floyd, Laurel, and Poppy are all VERY well-rounded characters, and I liked them a lot. Not much to say on that front. Laurel and Poppy's relationship is very sweet, especially in the end.

Laurel gets to be the mother Poppy never had! *sob* Floyd is very well-written in his confessional, I love how his like entire personality is really just a facade, built up to please Laurel. He was in a BAD situation, and you can give him a lot of blame for that, but honestly, he did what he could. I can't believe he KILLED himself, THAT had me shook, but honestly, what else was he gonna do in his life? Noelle screwed up a LOT of people, and I STILL can't believe he killed her. That was just...wow.

 

I would probably rate this book higher, but we have history. Maybe I'll revisit it sometime in the future for a higher rating, but for now, I'm satisfied with what we have. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Murder, Infertility, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Violence and Physical abuse

annniina98's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Blood, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship

lapluie8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This is the first novel I read by Lisa Jewell and it did not disappoint! I was captivated from the very beginning. I was running scenarios and trying to answer WHO, WHAT, WHERE & WHEN. I rated it a shy of 5 stars just because it started to get predictable in the middle. I do love the POVs of the characters.  However, I’m curious to know the POVs of the others’, like the father, the sister, the brother and the boyfriend.. But overall, I enjoyed  reading it. A page-turner for me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Infertility, Kidnapping, Stalking, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape

sprinumter's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This is more than just a 4.5 star review! The read was dark, mysterious, emotional, and thrilling- however there were many points where the story was very predictable (hence the 4.5 not 5) as in I knew what the next plot twist was going to be.  Regardless, it is one of the most interesting stories I’ve read in a while and very much enjoyed how fast paced and easily digestible the content was.  Poppy is my favorite character of them all and I enjoyed the multiple viewpoints from the various characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Violence

wrestleacademic's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pregnancy, Blood, and Rape

alexgieske's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Torture, Murder, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Infertility, Gaslighting, Confinement, Child death, Blood, Violence, Rape, Child abuse, and Animal death