Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Wife Between Us: The First Four Chapters by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

21 reviews

_bookally_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

I finally found a thriller that I loved! This is the first thriller where I am intrigued but not anxious by the plot or scenarios. It is also the first time I have enjoyed the plots and not found them cringey or lazy writing. 
 
Although there are some really dark topics in it like DV, suicide, mental illness and emotional abuse to name a few. I still enjoyed it and normally those aspects would be quite triggering for me. 

I actually really enjoyed the characters even though I hated some of them they were still enjoyable. 
I also found it quite confusing at times but I felt like that was the aim and that it really added to the story.

I will 100% pick up more by these 2 authors

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infertility, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Grief, Infidelity, and Infertility

pookiee's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-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

this has one of the better portayals of

domestic abuse

in the thriller genre. some parts are more exaggerated than is typical, but I was impressed by the nuances

”he liked to keep her safe, but also to keep her afraid so she’d rely on him” realization and the not-obvious lovebombing and gaslighting

. the fact that it was pretty grounded in reality made me that much more affected and invested in the story. (although there is an unsuccessful attempt to humanize this character that feels out of place since they’re villainized the entire book & undeserving.)

I guessed a big twist from the beginning, but I still think it was a great one—I’m just very skeptical and thriller-brained. plus this book doesn’t depend on its twists, its plot stands on its own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Body shaming, Grief, Infidelity, and Violence

Minor: Abortion, Blood, and Miscarriage

Details of the domestic abuse:

hit in the face, kicked in the ribs, strangled, her hair pulled, collapses, pushed down the stairs

jkar7's review against another edition

dark sad slow-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

The twists in the book weren't exactly unpredictable... there were a couple I didnt see coming. The plot was interesting, the way it intertwined, but I felt like the story could have focused more on fleshing out the side characters than what type of wines they drank. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Infidelity, Death, Car accident, Blood, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Classism, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infertility, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Drug use, Ableism, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Alcohol, Stalking, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Car accident, Vomit, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? No

3.75

This was an enjoyable read, and I think I would try these authors again. They definitely did a great job bringing their voices together. I do like a "dark past" story, but sometimes authors can refer to it too often, which makes the reader feel like screaming "oh my GOSH JUST TELL ME ALREADY," which I felt a teensy bit here. Overall, I was surprised multiple times throughout the book, which is great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Misogyny, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Bullying, and Stalking

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Classism, and Fatphobia

savagesav25's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

the pacing of this was so weird but i really loved the twists and turns. definitely one of my fave unreliable narrator books but it was just so slow at some points. did a great job of tying up loose ends though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Classism, and Domestic abuse

cbressler80's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

Very similar story to others I’ve read with it’s own flair (think the last Mrs Parrish, the housemaid).  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Stalking, Infertility, Death, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Sexism

jessicohen15's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.75

Great plot twists, kept me on edge the whole way!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Abortion, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Car accident, and Mental illness

crystal689's review against another edition

mysterious medium-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: Infidelity, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, and Infertility

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Blood and Grief

marisa_n's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

Lots of twists & turns. Some were more enjoyable than others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Stalking, Alcoholism, Grief, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Suicide, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

leahlovesloslibros's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

2.5

The Wife Between Us is broken into 3 main parts. Part 1 really got me hooked, wanting to know all the secrets and things left unsaid, as is necessary with any good book. We follow Vanessa's story as she mourns her [previous] marriage with Richard and begins stalking Nellie, Richard's new fiancee, in the weeks leading up to their wedding. Part 2 delves more into Nellie's relationship with Richard and how she is enamored with him and the lifestyle that being with him affords her. It showcases a bit of how she deals with Vanessa stalking her as well. Part 3....was kind of a shitshow, if I'm being honest. I felt like it was all over the place, which made it hard to follow. This section was the least surprising of the 3, which didn't exactly push me to finish the book, but I did. 

This book had several twists and turns. I didn't necessarily suspect any of them, but I won't say they really gave me a huge shock factor, either. Without saying too much, I will say that the one that really surprised me was when we found out more about the relationship between the dual narrators, Vanessa and Nellie. I was also surprised by the final twist in the epilogue; that one I totally didn't expect. Other than that, I felt that the other big twists were just, "meh."

Overall, I didn't love this book. I'm glad I didn't spend the money to buy The Wife Between Us; I listened to the audio book on Libby. I will give the authors another try, as I already own An Anonymous Girl, and that one seems to have higher praise than this one did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Abortion, Cancer, and Sexual content