Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Next of Kin by Kia Abdullah

7 reviews

coffeekitaab's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

My first of Kia Abdullah and what a rollercoaster ride!

Not an easy topic and I would definitely check out the trigger warnings due to the difficult premise dealt with her but genuinely thought it was very well written, and there were alot of conflicted emotions I dealt with as a result as I was reading. I think there is still a moral compass that the author wanted each character to have and how boundaries are tested when dealing with selfish and selflessness and how that means different things to different people. I was gasping alot of the times with the plot twists and could never predict where the story was headed - which was a relief as I was not sure where the book was heading when the tragedy takes place in the beginning of the book. Kia Abdullah is formidable in making you feel all the emotions and I will absolutely be picking more of her titles in the future!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

soobooksalot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

tragland24's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Lots of twists at the end! Strong depiction of older sister younger sister relationship and what we do in service of “helping” family. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Infertility, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity

patienceholmes's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Infertility, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

oceanwriter's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A dark and twisty thriller centered around family drama? I'm in.

Leila adores her nephew Max... so what happens when he's found dead on her watch? Next thing she knows she's put in front of a jury to decide if this was a terrible accident or intentional. Through the trial, a lot of things that have gone unsaid between her and her sister Yasmin come to light. This along with flashbacks to other difficult times in their lives makes for an emotional journey. But it doesn't end there. There are more secrets being kept that threaten to change everything.

The book is broken up into three parts, each one following a different moment surrounding Max's death and the trial. The writing is immersive, though it jumps around from character to character mid-chapter which I found to be distracting at times. Nevertheless, I was hooked and finished the book in under twenty-four hours. There were some other things about it I didn't care for, however, I can't be specific what as they could be considered spoilers.

A huge thanks to HarperCollins/Harper360 for sending me a free ARC to read and review!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Abandonment

hilarylouise's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Minor: Chronic illness and Mental illness

mikki_9's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book made me feel so paranoid tbh It felt like it took a while (after the initial incident) for it to get interesting again. But the ending twists...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail