Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Stil maar by Carla Kovach

24 reviews

lotzoflolzz's review against another edition

dark tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, and Kidnapping

star_struck's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I probably could give this book more starts, but to be honest I was quite disturbed by it which I suppose it's a compliment to the author. Everything detail was so vivid, I was furious up to the end for what one of characters was going through, and again, hats off to the author for making it feel so real. I was disappointed that the main character never got to tell her story to those she loved the most, and disappointed that I didn't read more of the reconciliation of the kidnapped woman with her family. Also I wasn't impressed by the constant mention if this person and that person coughing and spitting mucus, it's a bit gross to envision. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pregnancy

milliantoinette's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The first few half of the book is incredibly slow. Sometimes it spent too long going into details that aren’t all that important to the plot. But the second half I flew through in a few hours. I couldn’t put it down in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder

purplenoodlepie's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE HAND

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

bertrandlm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

avidreader24's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I'm a fan of detective murder mystery stories so was excited to see this on stuff your Kindle day and it looked promising. But it fell flat. 

The plot was ok but the writing was so repetitive that I skimmed the second half of the book. I don't need to know 4 times in a row the results of a unimportant DNA test! I even completely forgot about the opening murder as this didn't come up again until the final chapters.

Also the title and hook/tag line don't correspond to the novel in any way. I was waiting for this twist of someone saving the victim but then having their own nefarious reasons. Nothing like that happened.

The only character with any likeability and the only chapters I didn't skim were with the kidnapped victim.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death and Rape

st333phanie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, and Child abuse

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.25

Finished reading: April 30th 2024

“The combination of thunder and seeing the helpless baby had dug up her memories. Memories she'd rather forget.”

I came across this series when I was browsing my kindle for titles to read to help complete my kindle freebies goal, and since I've been meaning to try Carla Kovach's writing for a while now I decided to give in. The Next Girl is the first book of a detective thriller series, and it starts on a heavy note with a kidnapping case as well as a focus on domestic abuse. It's not a bad read, but somehow there wasn't really anything that made this thriller stand out from other books in the genre either. I think this had a lot to do with the main character Gina, who I was unable to warm up to. She seemed too much like your stereotypical flawed detective with a troubled past, and the rest of the cast wasn't overly developed either. The many references to her past and psychological consequences in the present not only made her seem less competent as a detective, but also started to annoy me considerably. The fact that she was sleeping with her boss didn't really help either to be honest. The plot itself dragged in parts as well, and as a result it took me longer than expected to read The Next Girl . The case itself had a lot of potential and there were moments that were more suspenseful, but as a whole I felt that something was lacking. And while the final part was more engaging, it couldn't fully save this story for me. All in all it wasn't a bad read, but I don't think I will be continuing with this series... I still have too many other detective thriller series I want to start/continue instead.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

chandraleanne's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

mandarose79's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, and Pregnancy