Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

El Instinto by Ashley Audrain

101 reviews

moonmoonsun's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Child death, Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

samlopez93's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Intense, chilling, and psychological, The Push is one book I could get out of my head for a while!! <Spoiler>Not sure if this is really a spoiler to say but I'll tag it just in case! Fans of The Good Son will very likely love this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Car accident, and Child death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Domestic abuse, Toxic friendship, and Stalking

alangmaack's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Death, Bullying, Murder, and Toxic relationship

lizreaderhold's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

ms_sarah621's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Wow, this was dark, painful, and tense. The different feelings in motherhood and the struggles that are faced. This book was a quick read, and the flashbacks really had my attention. About 50% through the book, I started to hate where things were going. However, I was really satisfied with the ending. A very complex look at sanity, raising a child, and marriage. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Car accident, Abortion, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Blood, and Self harm

kwoot7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

rfaab's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Child death

saraellenme's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Self harm, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Car accident, Abandonment, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage

claire_reardon's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I waited two entire months on Libby…for this? Maybe it was just the Tik Tok hype but I didn’t find this as crazy and captivating as everyone said it was. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Bullying, Death, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Infidelity, Suicide, Child death, Grief, Abortion, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

sighsborg's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I finished this in one sitting, I’ll give it that. The Push is a very fast read and a bit of a page turner. The beginning had so much suspense and tension I was wondering where the book would go. However, the farther I got into the book, the less I found myself in suspense. Maybe this book was mismarketed, but to me this isn’t as much as a thriller as it is the analysis and dissection of motherhood and what it means to be a mother. I found myself empathizing with the main character at times and not at all in others. The flashbacks to Blythe’s mother, Cecelia’s childhood, I found unnecessary and really ruined the flow of the book for me. I think some of the wording she chose uncomfortable at sometimes, and maybe that was the author’s intent, however it just didn’t work for me. The ending was a bit of a let down. I think the way the book is narrated is a strength and a weakness of this book at times. All I can say is that at times, I found this to be a weak knockoff of You. Wish we could have gotten the POV of Violet or Fox somewhere in this story in order to give us a breather from this narration.

Not quite sure how I feel about this book.

I found the ‘evil child’ element of this story really weak and a bit… wrong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Child abuse, Abandonment, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Body horror, Vomit, and Sexual content

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Abortion, and Sexism