Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

20 reviews

itsbumley's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

august_ambrosia's review against another edition

emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

solid book! slightly annoying naive voice for a 17 year old but thats to be expected and it wasn't terrible or grating. nice witch hunt story + i would call the ending unrealistic if it wasn't historically accurate. so. pretty fun! good stuff. there's probably better witchy historical fiction out there but as far as it goes. not bad. tw for pretty graphic description of labour 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Death and Pedophilia

blissofalife's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

I was a little disappointed with the climax and ending. It felt like we were building up to some grand reveal which never came. Even the title of the book felt a little misleading? Familiars were mentioned, but never obviously attached or showed clear purpose. I didn’t really understand Fleetwood obsession with Alice, but maybe that was the point and I missed it.

  And the big reveal about her husband having another family? Why did that just fizzle out at the end and come to nothing? We spent half the book with her being so distressed about it and in the end the solution is: “I’ll just ignore it.” But the reveal at the end that these were real characters and loosely. (very loosely.) based on real events was super interesting to me!

 

I did, however, love the attention to historical detail and dedication to - as far as I can tell - historical accuracy in the descriptions of interactions between the classes and feelings and views of the time. As well as what the characters were wearing, and why.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, and Classism

Minor: Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

bookish_kirst's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death

knitterscasket's review

emotional slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexism

roksyreads's review

4.5

This is a beautiful but difficult read. You must be able to suspend your modern mindset to a degree, something I often struggled with as Fleetwood feels so familiar to me - I saw much of myself and my frustrations with the world reflected and being a woman reflected in her. I think it will take time and another reading of this book to fully unpack my feelings about it. For now, I can say it is a deeply compelling tale about a young woman seeking justice, and her beliefs resonate strongly with my own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexism, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage

sammie_snk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

3.75

*Trigger warning for those experienced with pregnancy loss*

Interesting tale of strong women finding friendship and support during an era that is quite unkind to women. Lots of twists and a satisfying yet mysterious conclusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

Minor: Rape

yikeslou's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

In case, like me, you're ridden with furious anxiety throughout this book and want a spoiler free reassurance: it all works out. Just you wait and see how!

Anyway let's talk about how Alice was a better husband to Fleetwood throughout that whole book. Every man in this is evil and should get hemorrhoids.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

Minor: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Main character is seventeen years old and married to a man a few years older than her, as was common at the time. MC occasionally hints at an instance of sexual abuse in her childhood before discussing it in depth at the end of the book

makienzl's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was enjoyable, but you really have to suspend your disbelief. Some of the behavior of the characters is definitely ridiculous for the time period. For instance the protagonist is married at 4 years old??? Maybe someone may have been betrothed but not married… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infertility, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

Minor: Sexual assault

livlostinstereo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape