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violetbentbackwards1036's review against another edition
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Infidelity, Gun violence, Murder, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
layla_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Sexual content, Death, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse
erica_reads_things's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Mental illness, Gaslighting, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Sexual content
Minor: Eating disorder and Blood
oravkinovasara's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
bella_01's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Dysphoria, Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Gun violence, and Gaslighting
Minor: Gore, Murder, and Blood
marisacarpico's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I will say, Hoover really overwrites her characters’ emotional beats. So many sentiments felt repeated to death and his whole book could easily be 20-30 pages shorter and a lot more thrilling. The middle section, where this is just emotional manipulation and gaslighting is tough to read and not having to sit with it so long might make this more emotionally resonant overall. Hoover writes herself out of the corner she puts the characters into, but just barely. This concept might be easier to swallow as a film, honestly. We just have to suspend our disbelief and struggle to keep our sympathy with Leeds for too long in book form. I genuinely considered DNF’ing this for a minute.
The time jumping really felt affected for so much of the book and it ends at a key turn, but you can feel the construction in a way I didn’t like. Also, it’s too hard to believe a choice the characters make re: a visit from some guests in the last act. There’s a reason for it, but it’s just one step too far in asking us to believe theses characters aren’t dumb as fuck. Also, really stupid to ask us to believe Leeds is so curious about Willow yet never takes 5 minutes to see if anyone died in the house or to do some research into why the previous owners suddenly abandoned it. Hoover might be too big to get hard edits at this point, but her editor is asleep at the wheel if they’re just letting shit like that slip by.
Anyway, I seem really critical on this, but it’s got enough that works about it that I don’t think the flaws totally ruin the experience. It’s no Verity, but I do have to appreciate what Hoover was trying to do even if she doesn’t do it particularly well.
Graphic: Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Blood and Body horror
larainsidebooks's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
And here's also the fact that this plot twist somehow excused all of the bad things the MC did to his love interest, even though he didn't know the plot twist was going to happen. He even acknowledged that what he was doing was bad and another person agreed with him, but he still did it?! I find that really hard to wrap my head around.
I read a book with a similar aspect couple of years ago (2019) and while the ending was also kind of absurd, I feel like that plot twist had more weight and shocked me more than this one. That made me guess what was going to happen in this one too, but here it was just bad.
Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, and Gun violence
Moderate: Gaslighting and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Blood and Violence
emilys_editions's review against another edition
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Addiction, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Stalking, and Violence
Minor: Blood
k12355's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Eating disorder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Medical trauma
mldog3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide, Sexual content, Drug use, and Death
Minor: Eating disorder, Blood, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail