Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Last Housewife

So thought provoking, well written, dark and thrilling. The plot was so interesting, while also being very disturbing. The characters all had depth and were very well developed. There might have been some little aspects that didn't fully make sense to me, but I'm willing to let that slide because this book completely blew me away by how amazing it it.

Content Warnings

shelbylynnn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This book is DARK. There were trigger warnings at the beginning but I was still entirely unprepared for just how brutal this was going to be. As someone who isn't bothered but graphic or violent content, I was still completely blindsided by this and a bit uncomfortable at times, so please be aware if you're going to read this that there is a LOT of graphic sexual violence, as well as suicide, drug use, emotional abuse, and physical violence. I have a lot of thoughts about this one. It definitely had some issues but in the end I honestly enjoyed it quite a bit.

Starting with my likes:
The plot was really fast-paced and there was plenty of twisty suspense to keep me intrigued the entire time. It had some great commentary on systemic misogyny, rape culture, and the very real fears of abuse, manipulation, and violence that women face living in today's society. The narrator was complex and flawed. She struggled with her own complicity in the violence she endured. She felt guilt and shame as a victim and had a hard time differentiating what she wanted from what she felt she deserved. I honestly didn't see the final plot twist coming and it felt like a fitting conclusion to the book.

Now the dislikes:
The podcast/interview format took me out of the story a bit. The narrator, Shay, was supposedly recounting things that took place 8+ years ago but she is quoting full conversations word for word. It just wasn't realistic. It also felt very odd and forced at times the way the dialogue was written between Shay and Jamie. I mean, she sees her childhood best friend for the first time in 10 years and immediately spills all of her darkest secrets to him and his very popular, very public podcast...really?? The things she was sharing were not only uncomfortable and deeply personal, but also potentially very dangerous as she accuses powerful men of doing horrible things to her and her friends, yet she tells him everything with no hesitation and no worries about the potential consequences of her confessions. I would've much preferred if we had gotten flashbacks of what happened to her rather than her retelling the story. Shay's husband and her marriage in general also felt very unnecessary and could've been left out with no effect on the story. It just made me like her less and made her involvement with Jamie even more uncomfortable (which was complicated and weird to me for other reasons).

My biggest issue with this book was that some things just didn't make sense.

Shay is able to so easily access all of these clubs that are supposed to be a huge well-kept secret. She uses her real name and this somehow doesn't ever get back to Don even though the members supposedly screen everyone before granting them access into their clubs. She faced no consequences for continually escaping these very dangerous who threatened her at every turn. As a character Jamie was very confusing to me. He never did anything to keep Shay from putting herself in danger time after time, even after it was very clear that she was traumatized from her past and was in a very vulnerable state. He knew that she was too close to the situation and was chasing the leads for the wrong reasons, yet he let her continue to put herself in even more traumatic situations, all the while saying how much he cared about her. There are plenty more plot points that really don't make sense when you stop to think about them, but honestly the storyline and the suspense made up for it all enough that I really didn't care. Overall, this was an enjoyable and twisty thriller unlike anything else I've read!

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classicallyzo's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-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

1.0

Rough read. The plot just wasn't engaging. It felt like the author was trying to make a statement about the treatment of women and within society but it fell flat. It was just shock horror rather than delivering the message well. I read some decent reviews so kept reading expecting a big twist for the ending, but it was a let down. The audiobook reading was good though!

A few things just never made sense:

Her husband - what was the point of his character? It just made Shay look terrible.

Jamie - equally not sure what he was meant to do other than explain how Shay should feel and when she was wrong, which in the context of the plot was not the right decision. Women oppressed and then a man needs to point it out. Give me a break. Also them sleeping together it just felt forced.

WTF was Laurel's death. Like how are we meant to believe she would do that. There are human instincts like survival that are much harder to overcome than this book made it seem.

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bookzplz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

this was so close to being 5⭐️ for me. i think the only thing holding me back from rating it 5⭐️ was the pacing at the beginning. but it quickly ramped the fuck up.

this book was TWISTY. i never knew what was happening next.

the laurels?! the cops?! the GOVERNOR?!!!! it was so twisty i was so scared that jaime was gonna like betray her at the end.

nothing could have made me happier than how it ended.

also i definitely thought jaime was gay at first bc, for me, 90% of the people from hs i willingly talk to now, are queer.

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ksamaine95's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

WHOA. Is it appropriate to say that I loved something so dark and painful and horrific?
Five starssss. Couldn’t put it down.

Absolutely not for the faint of heart. Please check the content warnings!

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veronicaweinstein's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense 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

4.75

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