Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - A Simple Favor

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell

10 reviews

tayrod4594's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

The characters in this book, despite some rather impressive character writing, ultimately feel more like two-dimensional soap opera stereotypes than actual people. Aside from the love they have for the children - expressed not at all in the ways they choose to mess up their lives, but still evident in other ways - not one of these people has a single redeeming quality. At times it felt like unintentional satire, but it did keep me engaged - all the way to the last page when I struggled to resist the urge to throw the book out the window. All I can say is that if you come to the book because you liked the movie, you're better off just watching the movie again.

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auri_underthing's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

Secrets. Façade. Love.

The book started off strong, but at some point, around the half way mark, it just tapered off. The whole thing seemed quite pointless and anticlimactic.

I kept on waiting for there to be a twist, a magnificent twist that would blow the whole thing out of the monotony. But it never happened and the ending just seemed repetitive.

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asofiarv's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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infjkiki's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.0

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coco78337's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

2.5

Very middle of the road book. Didn’t really care about the characters or the twists. But a good “get your mind off things” book.

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-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

1.5

Title: A Simple Favor
Author: Darcey Bell
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 1.5
Pub Date: August 28, 2018

T H R E E • W O R D S

Twisty • Disappointing • Superficial

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Emily and Stephanie are best friends. A Simple Favor kicks off when Emily asks Stephanie for a simple favour... pick up her son from school. But then, Emily disappears and no one know where she's gone. Of course, Stephanie knows something must be terribly wrong.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I'll start out by saying that I absolutely loved the concept of including blog style writing with a dual perspective narrative, as it allowed to contrast social media with real life. Unfortunately, the execution was poor and the good ended with that concept.

Yes, the story started out quite creepy, but it ended up being so unbelievable and corny that it was comical. The characters are all so unlikeable and unrelatable. The voice felt childish and not at all how adults would converse with one another. And to make matters worse the plot was so slow at times, that I'm not sure how I even ended up finishing.

I haven't seen the movie, but can definitely understand why people say this is the rare case where the movie is better. Do yourself a favour and skip this one. There are definitely thrillers out there focusing on female friendship and domestic drama that are more worth your time.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• no one

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"But if there were some version of luminol, the stuff they use to find blood at crime scenes, to detect the presence of grief, half the people we pass on the street would light up like Christmas trees."

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aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I first saw the movie a few years back and enjoyed the movie a lot so I knew what would happen in the book. The movie is near exact to the book so I would skip the book and just watch the movie. Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, and Henry Golding were perfect casting for the three main characters. The book can be slow in parts. Overall still enjoyable enough to keep reading but not enjoyable enough for me to recommend going out of your way to read it.

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