Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Change by Kirsten Miller

30 reviews

monalyisha's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

My husband LOVES stories about vigilante justice. Recently, when we were watching the newest season of Stranger Things and El struck a bully across the face with her roller skate, he legitimately cackled. I’ve *never* felt comfortable sharing in that kind of delight. This story is the exception. God, did it feel good to witness shitty, powerful men who are used to getting everything handed to them, get *exactly* what they deserve. 

Do I still think the morality is complex, and, perhaps, questionable? I do. But in this compulsively-readable, fictional tale of peri- and postmenopausal women coming into their powers and using them to bring male abusers and serial killers down, I barely flinched.

At first, I was worried that one of the three main characters is a black woman, written by a white woman. But I think it’s done (mostly if not totally) sensitively and that it serves both the story and a deepening sense of social conscience and consciousness. I trust Miller did her research and had readers checking her.  There’s one instance of food-shaming that I thought struck an odd chord. That noted, I’m now free to crow my praise.

This book was a BLAST to read! I didn’t want to put it down! The cast of characters is sharp and lively. Miller’s sense of wicked humor is a joy. And her overall message, that real magic lies in finding connection: connection to yourself, to friends and a community, and to nature, comes across clearly — as well as her darker but realistic message that sometimes, you have to burn it all down to rebuild something cleansed and purified from the ashes.

As far as the mystery, I can’t say sussing out the details was a challenge. I saw what was coming from a mile away (and I’m not psychic, just paying attention). That being said, I’m not a reader who *needs* a good mystery, so having foresight about the plot ruined nothing. And, I think the “twist” was a necessary one — in terms of showing how blame and responsibility can be shared and shouldered by unexpected parties (especially when race and class are factors).

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ellenwilberg's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious

5.0


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clhtdr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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deezy's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious sad 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? No

3.5


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amandaformby's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0


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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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meliroo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

4.5


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xlivinglikejen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5


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libertyreads789's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

3.25

Before I get into the review, I want to say a quick thank you to NetGalley and the publishers over at William Morrow & Company for letting me access this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Change is an Adult Fantasy/Mystery/Thriller about a group of women in Mattauk who have discovered magical abilities as a part of their midlife crisis. Those abilities end up putting them on a collision course with the evil that lives in their wealthy beach town. I’ve seen this pitched as Big Little Lies meets The Witches of Eastwick. The Change is out on May 3rd and is available for pre-order now.

There was so much in this story to love and, yet, it fell short for me. I love this beachfront town and all of the wealthy (and not so wealthy) people who live and work there. At first this story really gave me Revenge vibes which I loved and wanted more of. But the story focuses less on the rich people in town and more on the lives of the people who also live and work in this town and have to make it work. There is an ensemble cast of characters who all have their parts to play in this story. My favorite character is probably Jo because she seems the most well rounded character in the story. I feel like I know her a lot better than I know other characters. I love the image of strong women wanting to take back their town after disaster strikes and wanting to prove that women belong here just as much as the men do.

But where this powerful feminist message got lost for me was that it was constantly putting the men down in the first half of the novel. As we learned in the 2010s, that’s not how actual feminism works. Feminist ideology is not about hating men. I also didn’t love the messaging that came across as the women discovered this horrific event. It was seen as: of course this happened. Of course a woman was sexually assaulted and murdered. They’re a woman in a world of men. It was gross and it severely dialed down the horror of seeing what happened to this character. Also, I didn’t appreciate that most of the villains in this story were villains who might one day give a speech outlining all their evil plans while twirling their mustache. Their actions alone would have made me hate them. I don’t then need the author to add another level of evil behavior to make sure I know who’s the bad guy.

The things I enjoyed and really wanted more of were the magic elements and the women pulling together to take care of business. I loved that this was a magical realism story while also having a mystery/thriller element. I love the way the genres were mashed together. But I just found this a little heavy handed.


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deanis23's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

I loved it! Great spin on women's intuition. Every woman will see herself in Harriet, Jo or Nessa.
I definitely got the pervert island (Epstein/Maxwell) vibe and it quickly drew me in. Every mother with a daughter understands the fear and need to constantly protect our littles from the pervs (and the manipulative "helpers") of the world and this book gave us a satisfying revenge.
Hope this turns into a book series, it would be an auto-buy for me!

* I received an arc after winning a Goodreads giveaway. 

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