Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

6 reviews

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

One sentence review: Unlikeable characters, gothic vibes, and page turning reveals. 

Hal has money troubles after her mom passes is faced with a threatening loan shark shaking her down for funds she doesn’t have. When suddenly, she receives notice of a mysterious inheritance from a grandmother she doesn’t know. She scrounges herself together and flees to Brighton to learn more, but didn’t expect to have to deal with family tensions, secrets and threats when she arrived…

A popcorn thriller that will ultimately be forgettable to me. I liked the tarot elements, which added in some interesting omens and foreboding. I also enjoyed Maggie’s diary entries. This was probably the most gothic and atmospheric part of the whole book, I could feel the sun on my skin during the lake scenes. 

But what I couldn’t stand was the main character Hal. She just seemed so wimpy and clueless throughout the book. The way she was characterized made me feel like I was reading a book much older than it actually was. 

Overall, not my favourite of Ruth Ware’s works but still worth the read for those gothic vibes and twisty mystery that I didn’t expect! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual content

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• 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

3.0

This book got so confusing. Almost like Ms. Ware wrote herself into a corner, and then had to get really creative to make everything kind of work out. Also, I feel like the whole plot point about

Hal owing a bunch of money to the creepy guy

was just not really resolved? Truly, it's my own fault for continuing to read books that I'm not really into haha

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

gracescanlon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

This was an intriguing novel, with lovable characters and multiple successful red herrings. I did see some of the twists coming, but I wasn’t always entirely correct about the particulars. That kind of twist - where I can guess that there is one, and can guess maybe something or things about it, but other things I didn’t expect are revealed later - is my favorite. It’s the best of both worlds: I get some of the satisfaction of guessing correctly, but also enjoy the surprises the author had in store for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Alcohol

lostinworlds's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia and Incest

growintogardens's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I figured most of it out, but I enjoyed it and liked Hal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

ashleycmms's review against another edition

2.75

Anyone who knows me and my reading tastes knows I’m a super for family drama, dynamics, and relationships. I always enjoy it no matter if it’s possible, healthy, traumatic, fictional, or non-fiction. However, I went into this expecting a thriller/horror and figured out the antagonist 25% in. By 50% I figured out the plot twist. I read and watch a lot of horror/thriller content so it’s not unusable for me to be able to figure out what’s going to happen before I get there. However, what was a real let down for me was the sheer lack of concrete reasons as to WHY these things even came to happen. This is a story that relies heavily on backstory while simultaneously being incredibly vague about the events of the past. We get a few diary entries of the past that were very intriguing, but they often caused me to wonder more about what happened during that time. Especially to the main villain of this story. We get no reasoning, which I guess would be fine if the story was “some people are just evil” but there’s constant wording that “over time,” “something happened,” and “before and after.” So WHAT…. WHAT IS IT THAT HAPPENED?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse and Blood

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, and Alcohol