Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

35 reviews

wondernaut55's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I adored this - it felt like a comeback from Five Survive, with a heavy focus on character development as well as an interesting mystery. Because of the equal focus on characters and a twisty plot, the pacing did suffer quite a bit, but I loved the characters and mystery enough to keep going. 

Strong Points: Characters, compelling setup, intrapersonal relationships, and themes

Weak Points: Not really many stakes to stick to the mystery until we got to a little past the halfway point - if we’re breaking this up into 4 acts, act 2 bogged down pretty quickly, and act 3 started strong but like a rollercoaster it dropped hard. I also felt like our villain’s motive was pretty weak and didnt unravel the mystery in the most satisfying way. However, the theme carried that on its back, and I loved the wrap-up for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

madreadings's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

twisty, dark, emotional.  a good look into the phenomenon and obsession people have with true crime.  another banger from holly jackson  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Grief

siennaflynn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Medical content, and Death of parent

s_green217's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Dementia, Grief, and Murder

bridget_magpie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I was so excited to read this book. I love Holly Jackson’s style, she easily win me with AGGGTM. I really liked this book, there was so much suspense and mystery and I really didn’t expect what really happened. The story is great, but I wasn’t absolutely fan of the ending. Something about it just didn’t feel right with me. Saying all that, this is easily a strong 4 star novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Pregnancy

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Infertility and Pregnancy

bookswithlauren's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

wylanslcve's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

the funny thing about this book is that, even though I'd already pieced together 85% of what really happened fairly early on, holly jackson somehow managed to confuse me and make me second-guess myself consistently throughout this book in typical holly jackson fashion but honestly? I'm not complaining - this book is incredible in every sense of the word. it's very much what you'd expect there to be in one of jackson's books, filled with twists and turns and a meticulously-crafted mystery that left me completely hooked. seriously, I powered through most of the second half of this book in a single day, which is unusual for me nowadays. I do, however, have a couple of gripes with this one because no book is perfect and you need to be able to critically evaluate the media you're consuming, especially if it's media you enjoy:

1) the romance in this felt underdeveloped and frankly a bit forced. the chemistry between the two characters comes out of nowhere given how their dynamic never really changes over the course of the book, and even though it was sweet I didn't really care for it because of how little relationship development there is between them. they still felt like strangers to each other (at least, from my perspective) and it seemed like the only reason they were even paired with each other is because the love interest was the only age-appropriate person within bel's proximity.

2) I had a similar issue with some of jackson's other books (namely a good girl's guide to murder since the structure of the reappearance of rachel price is more similar to that than five survive), but it felt like most of the people were giving information up way too easily. I know bel is characterised as a persistent, "doesn't take no for an answer" type of person, but the way people were giving her the information she needed almost instantaneously without bel having to put up much of a fight felt extremely unrealistic to me. I get it, it's fiction, it's ya, it's meant to be unrealistic, but it still bothered me.

regardless, this book did not disappoint and holly jackson remains an instant-read author for me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body shaming, Dementia, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

karly_ackley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, and Death of parent

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This book kept me guessing for the very beginning. Obviously, I knew Rachel would show up at some point, but the way she did and the drastic impact her resurrection had on the entire family threw me off. I followed Belle's doubt the whole way, because she made SENSE. The family secrets are top notch to the point I never suspected one after hearing another... Belle has severe abandonment issues, and I appreciated her processing those throughout the story. 

The audio narration is done very well with clear distinction of who is speaking when. Highly recommend listening to this, and it was my first book by Holly Jackson. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility, Self harm, Stalking, and Murder