Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Darling Girl

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

95 reviews

paulineerika's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

I actually finished this book maybe a month or so ago, but just forgot to update. While I enjoyed it at the time, I'm having a hard time remembering the details of it now, which is leading me to probably give a somewhat inaccurate rating.

From what I remember, I liked the character of Holly Darling and I thought the plot was intriguing, but it was such a slow build-up for the first several chapters, only to have things come to a head at the end. It wasn't the worst rush job, but you don't really get a sense of WHY Peter is so dangerous and why Holly is so afraid. And when you finally do find out, it feels almost underwhelming?

I read in a different review that it might have been more interesting to read about three generations of Darling women banding together to take down Peter and I agree with that. Jack didn't feel like he fit in very much with the story. Neither did Christopher Cooke.

This had the makings of a really interesting story and while it was good enough, it feels a little like there were missed chances to tell a great story.

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sfbookgirl's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.0

I am sad to report that Darling Girl missed the mark for me. And while Peter Pan is my favorite children's fantasy story, evil Peter Pan just doesn't do it for me. In this tale, we learn more about Wendy's granddaughter Holly and her daughter Eden who suffers from a rare aging disorder. After Eden mysteriously disappears, Holly knows immediately who is responsible: the one and only Peter Pan. Sent on a wild goose chase, Holly frantically looks for her daughter with the help of a private detective named Christopher Cooke (hmm look at that coincidence).

I found the plot of Darling Girl to be all over the place and ultimately, boring. There are quite a few trigger warnings like kidnapping, rape, and abuse that just did not sit well with me, nor do they seem necessary. The elements of romance were downright strange and oddly disturbing...and also did not seem necessary. Other readers have enjoyed Darling Girl, but this retelling of Peter Pan just didn't sit right with me. I am curious to hear your thoughts if you have read it!

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wellreadjill_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-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

2.0

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musingswithtay's review against another edition

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3.5

I liked it a little more than I thought I would, considering I was bored out of my mind until the final third of the book.

Might be my fault for thinking we’d go to Neverland, but hey. Whatever. I liked what she did with the story, and I thought Peter was well written, maybe even Jane, but that was it. On its own, I liked it. However, when I think of evil Peter Pan, I want to go to Neverland and see how that has been impacted by him. Another user stated that this book wasn’t about Peter, but more about the lives he has impacted, and that’s 100% true. I kept waiting for the correlating characters from Neverland in the real world to reveal themselves, but that isn’t this retelling. It’s good, but not what I expected/necessarily wanted.

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blouviere4's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.0

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stromanmaddie's review against another edition

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slow-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

1.0

Peter Pan retelling where Peter is the bad guy. It would be helpful to know the story’s background before diving in. Much of the reading depends on you knowing the original story.

I know this because despite Peter Pan being over one hundred years old, I do not fully know the original story, just bits and pieces, and at times I was a bit confused.

*The rest of the review has spoilers!!

The pace of this book was agonizingly slow. It took 150 pages to get out the background story and for anything interesting to happen. Then, just when you think something happened, that was intensely slow. Not only that, but we kept seeing Holly say the same shit over and over. It got old fast reading the same thing in fifty different ways.

Based on the story’s timeline and how miserable it is, I thought there was no way this story ends in a HEA, but I knew the author would hurriedly wrap it up in a nice bow anyway. Then I got to the end and realized I was right. The ending was so forced. Nothing got explained either. We were just supposed to accept what happened with no further explanation. We are supposed to infer Jack is completely healed based on Holy’s simple observation, with no explanation except a theory? Peter also went up in dust based on a theory; no clarification? Eden’s blood makes Jane age decades backward while it only heals Jack?

Not to mention how nothing ever really happens, either. The story is just a constant flow of people having conversations, and there’s never any action. When there is, we are conveniently kept out of it, and we only hear the aftermath of the story after. The crash, the fall, the party, the conceiving, even the bell tower scene. We never get to be there; we only get told the stories and memories after. I truly hope I never pick up another book like this again.

It was truly suffering being stuck in Holly’s head. She was so pessimistic, closed off, and one-track-minded. Not only was she suffocating Jack, but she was suffocating me as well. I get her concerns but let the boy live his damn life. A life shackled is no life at all. I did not feel an ounce of pity when Holly’s world started to crumble around her after Eden woke up because Holly created all of her problems with the lies she spun.

I truly despise when people’s problems are of their creation because all they do is lie to people. Sometimes, I can understand if their survival depends on it, but that was not the case here in Holly’s case. She is just stuck in her head and never takes herself out to see it from someone else’s point of view. She kept crucial information from her loved ones. Truths they had every right to know, no matter the damage the truth inflicted upon the individuals. They had the right to know, and Holly took away that right from them, especially Jack.

Besides Jack, these characters are completely one-dimensional, one-tracked, and unlovable. They either suck, or we don’t see enough of them to care. It got old fast reading the same thing in fifty different ways.

I know I harped on about how much I disliked this story (because it sucked), but it occasionally throw out a good one-liner.

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reading_oncoffee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

I love this adaptation of the classic Peter pan story. Even with it shining Peter in a more dark, horrid light, somehow I can really see it working. This book is what I would imagine the Grimm version of this story being and it was executed really well. My main problems are the few plot holes that were rushed to be concluded. I feel like there was all of that drama surrounding her business and the resolution was just thrown in there at the end in what really should have been called an epilogue, not a chapter.

Lovely story!

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