Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell

15 reviews

courtneys_reading's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I think the movie adaptation is pretty good for this. I mean who doesn't enjoy Anna Kendrik and Blake Lively?

The actual story is interesting but I feel like it doesn't give me enough. Like all that stuff about Stephanie and her brother, what is the point? I feel like it's just added to give her character something interesting but eh. Adds nothing realistically.

Would have preferred a lot more information about Emily and her 'demons' but alas that's not what we got.

Still, if anything reading this made me wanna watch the movie again lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction and Incest

Minor: Drug abuse, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

em_daydreaming's review against another edition

dark

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Incest, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Toxic relationship and Car accident

daniellelugashi's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide

tayrod4594's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

The characters in this book, despite some rather impressive character writing, ultimately feel more like two-dimensional soap opera stereotypes than actual people. Aside from the love they have for the children - expressed not at all in the ways they choose to mess up their lives, but still evident in other ways - not one of these people has a single redeeming quality. At times it felt like unintentional satire, but it did keep me engaged - all the way to the last page when I struggled to resist the urge to throw the book out the window. All I can say is that if you come to the book because you liked the movie, you're better off just watching the movie again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

auri_underthing's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

Secrets. Façade. Love.

The book started off strong, but at some point, around the half way mark, it just tapered off. The whole thing seemed quite pointless and anticlimactic. 

I kept on waiting for there to be a twist, a magnificent twist that would blow the whole thing out of the monotony. But it never happened and the ending just seemed repetitive.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

coco78337's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

2.5

Very middle of the road book. Didn’t really care about the characters or the twists. But a good “get your mind off things” book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Incest, Infertility, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

baileyamanono's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

katie_lucht's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

kelly_e's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

1.5

Title: A Simple Favor
Author: Darcey Bell
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 1.5
Pub Date: August 28, 2018

T H R E E • W O R D S

Twisty • Disappointing • Superficial

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Emily and Stephanie are best friends. A Simple Favor kicks off when Emily asks Stephanie for a simple favour... pick up her son from school. But then, Emily disappears and no one know where she's gone. Of course, Stephanie knows something must be terribly wrong.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I'll start out by saying that I absolutely loved the concept of including blog style writing with a dual perspective narrative, as it allowed to contrast social media with real life. Unfortunately, the execution was poor and the good ended with that concept.

Yes, the story started out quite creepy, but it ended up being so unbelievable and corny that it was comical. The characters are all so unlikeable and unrelatable. The voice felt childish and not at all how adults would converse with one another. And to make matters worse the plot was so slow at times, that I'm not sure how I even ended up finishing.

I haven't seen the movie, but can definitely understand why people say this is the rare case where the movie is better. Do yourself a favour and skip this one. There are definitely thrillers out there focusing on female friendship and domestic drama that are more worth your time.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• no one

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"But if there were some version of luminol, the stuff they use to find blood at crime scenes, to detect the presence of grief, half the people we pass on the street would light up like Christmas trees." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Grief, and Murder

death of partner

yokaisbabe's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, and Incest

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Car accident and Murder