Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

55 reviews

arynapril's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

I liked this book a lot! Very great prose and imagery, I liked it very much!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

lilawsahar's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.0

Kind of disappointed. I thought it was going to be more mysterious and exciting, but the suspense was greater than the reality of what happened. The ending is more confusing than clarifying.

I hate when books read like realistic fiction then end up having a sci-fi twist at the end. Also, I think the author should have foreshadowed less and communicated more about Vera’s past. It would have made the book more interesting along the journey. Only the last 50 pages were “interesting” and it wasn’t interesting enough to get me to recommend the book. 

Questions left unanswered:

- Was Francis’s compulsion for murder driven by Daphne?
- Why didn’t the house reveal itself sooner?
- Will Vera continue killing people?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Toxic relationship, Torture, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, and Violence

bella613's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Confinement, Murder, Body horror, Child abuse, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Grief, Blood, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Death of parent, Gore, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

goose's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

Some parts were really good, I think Gailey excels at writing the actual prose of a story. They find some of the funkiest ways of phrasing things like you've never heard before but it gets right to the core of it. Love that. The plot fell a tad flat for me, I kind of wish it committed to something different. It could've gone either all spooky or all grounded in reality, but it tried to awkwardly straddle both, in my opinion. I hope Gailey does more all spooky someday. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Vomit

yalibrarianjen's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Death of parent, Violence, Chronic illness, Blood, and Toxic relationship

emlittle's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

You know what really sucks? When a book wasn’t bad, but had the potential to be great. [Slight spoilers ahead] ‘Just Like Home’s premise was promising enough: a woman having to return home and face the remnants of the childhood that was shattered by her father’s crimes and exploited by her mother. I was hugely excited going into it.

Vera was a compelling enough character. The story was told in a series of present day and flashback scenes, and we get to learn the most about Vera aka the daddy’s girl who was equally adored by her father. We slowly learn about her father’s dark side and her own darkness even at the age of 11. We get to watch her parent’s dysfunction (to put it mildly) shape her. Her evolution as the character that we never *really* know is so fun.

BUT. But. The story completely fell apart for me when Gailey introduced a supernatural explanation that didn’t actually explain much. Without giving away what it is, it felt so half baked and out of place, it overshadowed the elements of the story I thoroughly enjoyed. It honestly pissed me off. ‘Just Like Home’ would’ve been such a strong thriller otherwise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

The pace of this story is a bit slow but I enjoyed how things played out. It didn't go exactly how I expected it to, which is good. I have some mixed feelings about the end. I don't feel like all my questions were answered fully, but I did enjoy the journey.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, Confinement, Murder, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Gore

Minor: Child abuse and Vomit

killmoore_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

I went into this as blind as possible, and I'm so glad I did. 

I loved everything about Just Like Home from the very first page - the imagery is rich and decadent, the characters mysterious and questionable. Mm. Chefs kiss. Gailey uses language that draws you in and holds you hostage as you follow Vera in two different time lines, working to unravel the mystery of the Crowder House and navigate the shattered remains of her relationship with her dying mother. It could have ended there - psychological and true crime adjacent, but no. Gailey gave us so much more.

The sharp turn into WTFville was sudden and absolutely amazing. I was not expecting this to take a hard dive into creature feature, and I could not have loved it more. I love a good "house as a character" storyline and this did not disappoint. This had me chanting "get his ass!" Alone in my room at 2am 😅

An atmospheric, spooky, wild ride. I would highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

renyoi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

Brilliant atmospheric, suspenseful storytelling that builds up to its truly horrifying moments in intensely effective ways. The protagonist,

an unreliable narrator in the subtlest sense

, turns out to be the most horrifying character in the book, which was entirely unexpected for me. My only wish is that the “true crime” aspect had been more present in the book; as it is, we are told it is a constant presence in the Crowder family’s life but never shown it apart from weirdo James Duvall, who comes across more as a basket case than as a representation of society. 

Aside from that, though, this work is a thrilling, grisly, appalling turn on the “haunted house” and “serial killer” genres of horror. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Abandonment, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Child abuse, Mental illness, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

beaubaggins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence