Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr

5 reviews

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

3.0

I’m genuinely sad about giving this book 3 stars, because I felt fairly certain it was going to be a 4 star read for me when I was about halfway through. This book had a lot of promise for me - lots of female main characters, interwoven stories, multiple art heists, WWII - all the right themes and ingredients were theoretically there. I was sucked in rather early on and was enjoying watching the story unfold.
Unfortunately the last 25 percent really crashed and burned in terms of my enjoyment. The characters became true caricatures in this last quarter. We had the naive but plucky protagonist and the cartoon psychopathic villain on a collision course. The antagonist was evil for no real reason and the depths of her depravity were confusing at times. And our heroine was one of the dumbest smart characters I’ve ever read. She was the cute blonde in the horror movie who decides to go down into the basement alone when she hears something go bump in the night. 
The end only partially worked for me, though there are major plot points that are just left swirling around. 
The goods - I was fairly hooked until I wasn’t, Ellis’ character arc (especially as relates to his grandson Adam), female representation in journalism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, and Drug use

Moderate: Cancer, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit and Grief

camsand's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

2.0

 

Seems  like this book is made for me:

- Historical fiction

-WWII

-Priceless art intrigue 

-Dual timelines

It started really hopeful with an opening scene that had me hooked. But then too much and not enough happened. There are too many characters and they each fit a cliche: hard- nosed newspaper editor, “ruggedly handsome” tortured artist, crazy rich old guy,  sexy psychopath villian woman, etc.. The main character is an investigative reporter who dresses in frumpy clothes and glasses so no one knows she’s hot until she gets dressed up. You can tell that a lot of effort went into the writing, but it just didn’t gel for me. I get the feeling this was written to become a Netflix/HBO Max series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Addiction, Antisemitism, Murder, Toxic relationship, War, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

paytonreads's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

I liked all the twists in the book and how it came together in the end. The end was slightly rushed for me but that is also the nature of the genre. Overall, a good read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Murder, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Violence, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, and Sexual content

jessicalittle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

Lots of twists and turns in this journey on finding a much-coveted painting from WWII era. Many people have a claim to the painting, and it’s fun to see how it all shakes out. Lots of drugs, sex, and some psychotic episodes referenced, but this art mystery was a new WWII plot line for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, and Cursing

Moderate: Addiction

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-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

I love it when historical fiction is the basis for a contemporary thriller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Drug use, Genocide, Confinement, Infidelity, Murder, Sexual content, Stalking, War, Addiction, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship