Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

81 reviews

erinlaura's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Infidelity

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

crosberg's review

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Another disappointing thriller/mystery.  The book is only 330 pages and there's only one core mystery with several murders and acts of violence so I don't know how the author managed to make it feel slow, but he did.  Without spoilers or going too much into detail, the overwhelming feeling of this book is that the author really doesn't like women, and his male characters are showing exactly how.  The main character was a female therapist, and she did have a few female colleagues/mentors to rely on, plus all of the victims were female.  But somehow the only people who had any personality were all men and most of them treated the women in their lives callously at best, abusively at worst.  Gaslighting and "there, there dear let the men handle it" patronizing is rampant with all but one of the male characters, who the main character seems to fall in love with after he's simply kind to her for about 30 seconds.  I was so distracted by the absolutely flat, passive women and the terrible, violent men that I became utterly disinterested in the actual mystery.  What's worse is that the author treats sexual assault, child abuse, and trauma with a casualness that made my skin crawl.  Forget the actual murderer, I'd be uncomfortable interacting with the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

se6500's review

dark slow-paced

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

1.75

I felt that up until the last quarter of the book, it was just about Mariana's grief and not the thriller I was here for. I predicted the killer, but I was still surprised and that did make finishing the book worth it, even though I skimmed through a lot of it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content

nykolereads's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

anisyrah's review

dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

kyrstin_p1989's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I found this book difficult to put down, even though it is outside of my typical genre. Well-written, with loads of twists and turns, my brain kept flipping back and forth on who I thought the killer was. While I did think the person who was the killer could’ve been a suspect, the reason they ended up being a killer was shocking. This book is a quick read, with short chapters, and a great twist! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

kazik's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, Car accident, and Death of parent

mariacalvo's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

km_loves_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Alcohol

toofondofbooks_'s review

dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This slogged on for the first 140 pages and I almost DNF'd a bunch of times. This was, for the most part, so boring that I wanted to cry. It hit its stride *sort of* toward the middle and end, but God, these characters were flat, the perpetrator of the murders was too predictable for me (though, to the book's credit, the reasoning behind it was not). One thing I did really like was the incorporation of literature and Greek Mythology in the narrative, but Overall, this really felt like a waste of time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Infertility, and Sexual content

Minor: Self harm and Xenophobia