Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

9 reviews

kshertz's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

4.5

This is a great read! It kept me reading, I was very intrigued. I couldn’t wait to see how it all unfolded. I couldn’t guess who it was and don’t think it’s guessable. There’s a ton of twists and turns. The only reason it’s not a 5 star rating is because it started to feel like twists for no reason and over the top at one point. The ending didn’t totally feel like the vindication I was going for. But still super satisfying and intriguing and I couldn’t put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

atalea's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Rape, Excrement, Vomit, Pregnancy, and War

calicat42's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

The structure was creative—a fun twist on the who dunnit genre.  At the start of the book, there’s no real information about what has happened, so instead of knowing what will happen and watching the characters figure it out, the reader only gets to know as much as the characters. Hard to put a book like that down! 

Although I fell in love with the structure, the content left me wanting a little. There were times where the plot moved quickly because the twists and turns were coming in every line. Yet there were times where I wished I could have read in x2 speed to move things along. I think this just comes to my preferences regarding mysteries; I don’t want to take my foot off the gas once the plot picks up! 

Overall, I enjoyed the read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

christygsp's review against another edition

4.5

Honestly, this book was a dark horse for me! I didn’t expect to make it past 40 pages but I was in from start to finish. 
The layout of reading correspondence and other documents was done very well, and I kept want to read just one more email. Though I will say that while I was waiting for an actual murder to happen, I did get a bit impatient. 
The way this mystery was unravelled was clever, intriguing and kept my brain working all through. When I had a theory, something new came up and shook it. At the end I was half right and half wrong, which led to a great mic drop reveal!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Death, and Violence

alywise's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-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? Yes

4.25

I really like when books feel like nothing has happened, and then all of the sudden a bombshell drops and you realize stuff has been happening the whole time! This felt like… like Liane Moriarty meets Agatha Christie. I was left with some loose ends (who the actual f was Jackie Marsh? Did she ever get her passport back?), but mostly felt like the author gave appropriate closure and answers, without spoon feeding it to the reader. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, and Terminal illness

Minor: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War

toofondofbooks_'s review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I can't say too much about this book plot-wise because honestly I feel like you're better off going into it a bit blind the way that I did. However, of course, there's a synopsis available if you do wanna read it, I can't tell you what to do. I'm the boss of me, not you.

What I can tell you is that this is a murder mystery wherein you are provided texts, emails, and other bits of evidence for the case and are basically meant to solve it alongside the two young lawyers, Femi and Charlotte. I loved how this book was written *so* much. I'm nosey, so I loved the feel of reading people's emails and snooping around their shit. Plus, I really enjoyed actively trying to solve the mystery. I broke my tabs out, I got out my pen and my journal, and got to work. I simply had the best time. I can't BELIEVE that this is a debut novel. This author is a total auto-buy for me from here on out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, and Stalking

Minor: Animal death, Hate crime, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

kaylasbookgram's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book definitely took me by surprise from the very first page. Told in email and text message format you as the reader get to read along with two lawyers to figure out who did the murder who was murdered and why. I can say I had no clue who was murdered until it was revealed and I’m still shocked on The Who dun it. I do think that it left a bit to the imagination at the end and some unanswered questions. Which was the only downfall in my eyes I don’t like to be left full of questions at the end of a book. Overall this was a fantastic debut! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, and Cursing

liviy0017's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, and Stalking

Minor: Medical content

charliebriggs96's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book doesn’t really have quotes per say because it’s all emails and text messages, so…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Wow, what a whopper of a crime book done well. Beyond ‘well’ in fact, it was exceptionally written. This is something I have not seen in a modern crime book before, and I have read quite a few. No real in face dialogue, there is only emails, texts and documents. It was so refreshing to read, and definitely kept me guessing until the very end. Honestly probably my new top 5 read of 2021. So so so good, go read it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug abuse