Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

69 reviews

madisonfrank's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Mental illness, Murder, Medical content, Sexual content, Stalking, Violence, and Pedophilia

books_are_magical's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Child abuse, and Abandonment

layla_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

i did like this but why does mariana have zero reaction to anything 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Incest, Pedophilia, Gore, Infidelity, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Blood, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt

nicoleherz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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? Yes

4.0

An engaging mystery that kept my attention. So many questions I wanted answers to, and written well, in a way that was easy to fly through.
I was constantly speculating who the murderer(s) might be, and what twist the author would throw in.

I had considered the possibility it was Zoe, but never would have guessed that Sebastian had anything to do with it. It made it a great twist, but I'm not sure if it aligns well with all the clues given earlier. There definitely could have been more details given to make it more plausible.

I also found the epilogue to give me more answers than questions. Oh well, still a great read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Abandonment, Murder, Blood, Death, Grief, and Self harm

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Stalking, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Bullying, and Death of parent

bookasaurbri's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, and Gore

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, and Pedophilia

kinga1204's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

I thoroughly enjoyed it until about 90%, but the ending was as bad as mystery book endings go. There are so many unnecessary plot points, and very few of the conflicts are actually solved by the end... It's a gripping, fast read, but has many, many mistakes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death

Minor: Abandonment

bookworm247's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Murder

lexslittlelibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

I want to love this book so much! Up until the very last plot twist I was captivated by everything within the text. Given how convinced Mariana was that Fosca was a murderer I went into this going “okay so not him” but time and time again I was a bit unsure. I think there was one potentially really good red herring thrown in but he was too easy to dismiss. Same with the other attempts made at a suspect. 

Henry could have been such a great suspect if he wasn’t clearly too far gone to write that kind of text /

It was too easy as a reader to look at the letters of confession and know who could not have written them. However the plot twist at the end did nothing feel entirely earned. It came out of left field without much to substantiate it and honestly made a lot of the emotion I invested in some of the characters feel a bit wasted? 

Overall, the side characters who could have been compelling fell flat. We didn’t see enough of Fosca and the Maidens (in my opinion) and the Maidens we did see were hard to get a feel for. 

The two introduced Maidens who died just felt like a toss up of ‘oh I know that name. Didn’t contribute to who was a suspect or give much emotion for the victims /

Overall, I want to love this book. And it’s fun enough — until the very end with the very last reveal. That’s where it lost me. Solid read but fell a hit short for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Incest, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

_carly_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual harassment

seriousduck's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Animal death, and Adult/minor relationship