Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

333 reviews

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

Good, creepy thriller. 

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kwork1829's review

4.5
adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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chan_reads's review

3.75
dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a very sad book. It is a fake mystery but it truly felt like this happened to someone real. I can’t even think how someone can be so evil and ruin so many people’s lives like that.  :(


While I was reading this book, I kept waiting for a revelation that Ellie was still alive. I figured out by page 80 that she was Poppy’s mother but I had no idea how twisted everything was. Learning what led to it was terrible and heartbreaking. I felt like I was reading a true crime story because of how upsetting everything was. Since there are different pov’s, I kept saying “please notice” or “please mention this because it could change everything”. One part that hurt me was when Ellie kept pounding on the window and the walls but nobody heard her. It was so frustrating. I hated Donnelly so much for what she did to Ellie. She was mentally ill.

Yes, there was some predictability to this book but the plot was so well executed that it didn’t make reading it feel like a boring task. I enjoyed unveiling all the parts of this mystery. 

I thought that Floyd would be much worse. I was expecting for an ultimate twist in his reveal, but it felt like I already knew what he did. I don’t think he should have died. What he did was terrible but Donnelly deserved that and more.

I was so sad to learn Ellie’s actually dead. I know early on we find out that her remains were found, but deep down I still had hope for her. :(

It was heartbreaking that Poppy lost her mom and Laurel lost her daughter. But I did like how Poppy is giving Laurel a second chance at being a mom after she lost Ellie. The ending is so bittersweet.

Overall, I give this a 3.5/5 rating.

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brisha's profile picture

brisha's review

4.0
dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

definitely predictable but i still really enjoyed the read. i really enjoyed the format of this book and the different povs.  i like that the main character was flawed but we were still rooting for her.

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mftraveller3500's review

3.75
challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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rowlandreads's profile picture

rowlandreads's review

3.0
dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Whew, several of these characters are difficult to like. Even the ones who aren’t criminals. 😅

Quick read with a painful ending. 

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aas's review

4.25
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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teeclecticreads's profile picture

teeclecticreads's review

2.0
dark sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a 2.5 star read for me personally. I had so many qualms with this book:

• It was easy to figure out the mystery behind Ellie’s disappearance. I even have a sticky note that I put in the book just to go back to it and prove myself right. Though I must say, the finer details did have me feeling very uncomfortable and kinda sick to my stomach. That’s superb writing right there, because some people in this world are actually that sick and twisted.

• Why was American English being used in a book set in the United Kingdom?? That was such a pet peeve for me as someone who uses British English. If they’re in England, it should be ‘humour’ not ‘humor’.

Most of the characters were extremely annoying to me. Laurel constantly shat on Hanna and kept comparing her to what Ellie was, Poppy didn’t feel like an accurate description of a 9 year old to me. Her language and behaviour felt quite mature. Painting Floyd as this story of ‘doing it to protect my daughter’ guy then with the suicide thing was so not cool. He doesn’t get to be felt sorry for. What he did was creepy and wrong. Then Hanna getting with and marrying her dead sister’s ex was really just kinda gross to me

• I hate ending. I really do
it doesn’t make sense that the letter was written by Ellie if she wasn’t allowed to leave the cellar at any point. How would she have been able to do that? That’s a huge hole in the plot line

I just overall was not a fan of this. Disappointed

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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