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kmoore98's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Transphobia
Moderate: Fatphobia and Racism
angelsprite's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Graphic: Transphobia
ertrunnell's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
Hated: transphobia, religious commentary, plot holes, irritating narrator, fatphobia
I thought it would have been interesting if the twist was that the whole thing was based on an unreliable narrator.
Other than what’s mentioned in “hated,” the writing was decent and I did want to figure out what the hell was going on.
Moderate: Fatphobia and Transphobia
bretsky91's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Transphobia
monstersinspace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infertility, Transphobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
jasreads__'s review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Summary:
Mallory Quinn is a recovering addict who's looking for steadiness in her life after getting out of rehab. She takes a job of babysitter for the summer with The Maxwells: Caroline, Ted and their 5 year old son Teddy.
Finally getting that stability she's hoped for, great job, her own place to stay, income and getting her passion for running again.. But things start to go wrong shortly after bonding with Teddy who loves to draw her pictures and tell her about his mystery friend Anya. The pictures become darker and darker with a man, a forest and a woman being harmed.
The problem is Mallory is a recovering addict, so she has to figure this out on her own without raising too much attention to what she's doing.
Thoughts:
I understand peoples concerns with fatphobia, racism and transphobia and all other controversy but I think it's all based on the reader and how they want to react to it. As a queer person I didn't find harm in Spoilerlearning that Teddy was a girl and it was hidden. I know there's questions regarding what was the end goal for the parents but I think the parents didn't even know themselves what they were going to do! They just wanted a child of their 'own'. I don't think it was transphobic, it was just them trying to literally try and hide the fact they out of random had a 2 year old child and it was a girl - they needed to cover what they did even if it wasn't a masterfully crafted plan. I could go on as to why I disagree with some people but I want to leave that up to the reader. Our actual living world still isn't perfect and it needs to be worked on more yes, but I also believe we need to stop taking everything too intentional or too direct because again, as a queer person I'm not hurt by this book.
I enjoyed this book and read it within a day and stayed up much later just to finish this book. This story was sweet at times, whenever Teddy would burst into laughter I just could hear it in my head the sweet innocence of a young child. I did expect more spook to it as everyone claimed there would be some, but I found I wasn't really scared or spooked just intrigued to learn the story. I'm glad the story ended on a much happier note. Teddy Spoiler (Flora), Margite and József deserved a happier ending.
⤍ What I liked: The pictures were such a nice touch to the story, being able to see what was being drawn you were able to actually picture the shock on Mallory's face when you saw them because I was even shocked looking at them. I enjoyed the play on the recovering drug addict because although some people see it as unrealistic, it unfortunately is realistic for some.
⤍ What I disliked: While I did enjoy the addict part, I also found it weighed a bit too heavy on the book and that's why it only get's 4.5 stars for me. I also found it more mystery based than horror or thriller.
Graphic: Drug abuse and Murder
Moderate: Drug use and Kidnapping
Minor: Fatphobia, Racism, and Transphobia
fernbomb's review against another edition
Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia
gleefulreaper's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
1.0
Graphic: Transphobia
gainsandbrains's review against another edition
- 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
1.0
Moderate: Transphobia
czoltak's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
- The actual drawings being included into the story
- The representation of drug addiction recovery and its challenges
- The originality of the overall story and its premise
- The ease of readability (this was hard to put down as it was so fast paced and kept you wanting to know what was next)
- While the plot twist was unpredictable and well developed, there were aspects of it that just didn’t sit right with me
- Mallory not always taking her babysitting job seriously (napping while watching Teddy, leaving him with someone else, etc.)
- The experimental study on gaze detection storyline that we never came back to (it was interesting but ultimately felt pointless as there was no follow up)
- Unnecessary racism sprinkled into the story
- Ted’s dynamic towards Mallory (especially towards the end)
Graphic: Kidnapping
Moderate: Racism and Transphobia