Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Stone Cold Fox by Rachel Koller Croft

4 reviews

maggieparedesauthor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don’t know why this book is. 3.67 on Goodreads, because it was SO GOOD! The author, Rachel Koller Croft, did a FABULOUS job of painting the characters in the most detailed way. In addition, the twists had my heart nearly leaping out of my chest with beats faster than a bullet train. I thought Rachel wrapped the story up nicely, also. If you’re a fan of the tv show Imposters, YOU MUST read this book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Child abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Murder

kelseyreads94's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Classism, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Child death

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Bea is a femme fatale who targets rich men just like her mother taught her. She's on track marry Colin, a man from a very rich and influential family. She's so close to achieving everything she wants, but Colin's best friend Gale could ruin everything.

This book immediately hooked me. It is so dramatic, over the top, and chaotic. There a few good twists in this book, some that I saw coming, but a few that caught me by surprise. 

You shouldn't like Bea, she's not a good person. Yet, I found myself rooting for her throughout the book. She's literally telling you all the horrible things she has done in the past and what she plans to do in the future, but you want her to succeed. I like the way that it jumped between Bea's present and her past. I think seeing what she went through in her childhood and her messed up relationship with her mother, made me more empathetic towards her and helped me to understand the person she became.

She truly wanted to be different from her mother, but she knew no other way to do that than to scam and manipulate her way to the top.

The ending was a let down for me,

I was really hoping for some kind of showdown between her and her mother, but it was pretty lackluster. I get that the author is trying to put us in the headspace of Bea, on edge never knowing when her mother will strike in the future. But the ending is unsatisfactory for the reader. I wonder if it's being left open-ended for a sequel? A book from her sisters point of view about hunting down the mother could be interesting.

I really enjoyed the audio version of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic relationship

syellico's review against another edition

dark tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Body shaming, and Murder