throwback682's review
- 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
5.0
If you want to know more of the plot, but not major twists or ending:
Spoiler
An older woman and her spinster daughter, living alone after the sons were killed in WWI and the husband died of a heart attack, are financially ruined and have to take in a young married couple as lodgers. The daughter is a lesbian and starts having an affair with the woman lodger. Then the man lodger dies unexpectedly and that’s where the majority of the tension in the book comes from. So it’s a sapphic love story? But also mostly a murder… not mystery? A crime drama, perhaps.If you want to know whether it has a happy ending:
Spoiler
Yes? It leaves you hanging a bit but it’s not the tragic ending I feared.Spoiler
The male lodge is the only person in the book who dies. No LGBTQ+ deaths.Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Infertility, Biphobia, Grief, Confinement, Abortion, War, Vomit, Outing, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gore, and Blood
Spoiler
There’s talk of a stillbirth. There are pretty graphic descriptions of a medication abortion at home. There is a murder with some grisly description of a head wound. Tons of blood related to both the abortion and the murder. There are several sex scenes between two cis women. It’s indicated that marital rape occurs.bootsmom3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Alcohol, Homophobia, Sexual content, Death, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Sexism, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Outing, Grief, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, and Murder
Moderate: Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, and Misogyny
Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death
dan2's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Spoiler
i feel like after the murder it could have been really good but it was just boring. and i knew it would probably end well for the characters, but i feel like it was way too easy for them. they just lied their way out of it with no consequences. and nothing actually happened after the murder. just a lot of investigation and no action.THAT SAID, i liked it.
Graphic: Gore and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content