Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering

11 reviews

maddyhammer's review

emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Kidnapping

Moderate: Terminal illness

avidreader8725's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Rape, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Abortion

masch212's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Fatphobia, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

smileyjayna's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

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

2.25

I love ghost* stories
* “ghosts” generally, not like 👻

I do not love the narrative voice (if that’s the right term for it, how it’s always “I give a strained smile” or “I jolt up in bed”) but I haven’t read anything else by Lovering so I’m guessing it was it was a choice for a thriller.

I DO like the way choices are dissected and discussed, how they do or do not belong to their characters, if that makes sense.

I like the pacing of the book overall, but I have not decided my opinion on the moments in which two characters experience the same event.

I think it was a sloppy choice to use weight as shorthand for virtue/virtue (wade, ava (to a lesser extent)).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Dementia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, Emotional abuse, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Classism, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

Minor: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Eating disorder, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Lesbophobia

msvernier's review

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Death, Rape, Dementia, Toxic friendship, and Abortion

meagan123's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Dementia, Toxic friendship, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Abortion and Death of parent

reading_under_covers's review against another edition

4.5

Huge thanks to St. Martin's press for sending me an ARC of this one in exchange for an honest review -  this book publishes on March 5!

WOW. It's been a while since I've been so enthralled by a domestic suspense, but this one had me in a chokehold. 

We alternate POVs between our two main characters, Cassies and Billie, and also jump around timeline-wise, which made the suspense even more enticing.

I loved how Lovering explored the darkness and evolution of childhood friendships in this book as it made for some fantastic imagery!

Will definitely be picking up more of her work in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

annashull's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Rape

trop_de_livres's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This is a hard-to-define novel. Billie and Cassie are our main characters. These two women have been best friends since they were girls, but have had a major falling out. Cassie is a mommy influencer and Billie has a successful career in travel, all the while pining after her old friend who has cut her out of her life. While navigating their glamorous lives in New York City, they are both haunted by a secret from their past. One impulsive act will be the catalyst to changing Billie’s life. 

Right after my recent pronouncement that I was burnt out on books written in this style (first person present tense, alternating POV chapters) I will have to eat my words and say that this one worked much better for me. It might be that I listened to it for the most part (using the Read Aloud function…not the best way to listen due to the robotic voice, but when it’s first-person narration, perhaps listening is the key to my enjoyment of this style?). 

This is sort of a domestic mystery without much suspense, but the story did keep me interested, although the pacing was too slow. It’s more about female friendship and living with the choices we make. It feels a bit like what used to be called chick lit (lots of references about social media, brands, etc) but the characters have more emotional depth than your run-of-the-mill genre fiction and this one gets dark and quite disturbing at times. New York City is definitely a character in this novel, and the many references to brands, etc could equally be seen as world-building and essential to the story, so this is why I have trouble really defining what kind of book this is. Superficial on one level, but emotionally deep on another. 

I really appreciated the theme of motherhood since it is still strangely and sadly taboo to declare that you don’t want to have children. Many of the emotional elements resonated with me on many levels. I think it’s important to know that this is not a thriller, but more of a psychological study of friendship, with some mysterious elements. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Abortion, Bullying, and Pedophilia

kelsey24's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I won this in a Good Reads Giveaway. I was hooked from page one and devoured this book. I will say I had second hand embarrassment and dread for the final 'confrontation', but it ended up not being too awful. The character growth was great, even though pretty much all of them are awful, self-absorbed people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Dementia, and Death of parent