Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

81 reviews

_savannahreads_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

riella_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

 This was good, but slightly underwhelming. I loved the premise but I also guessed a huge twist from the beginning, and another twist a significant amount of time before the reveal. I still enjoyed my time with it overall but I wish I didn't see the reveals coming so I could enjoy it more! I do think this is a perfect read for Halloween, as it takes place all on the night before halloween. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

emilydamron's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

The narration style of this book was quite unique. It felt more like sitting at a table with Daisy over tea and listening as she recollected memories, while everyone else bustles about. There are a few twists in here I was not expecting AT ALL. And while it took me a bit to warm up to this book, by the end I was invested

and devastated.

This is the second book I read and loved by Alice Feeney and I’ll definitely be reading more by this author in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

blackcatkai's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

CW: death (adult and child), child abuse, alcohol and drug use, addiction, suicide, sexual assault, mental illness, chronic illness, blood, violence, ableism

a mystery suspense novel with a supernatural bend. some of my favourite things are here like rich people family drama, murder, and a sweet dog who does NOT come to harm! 🥳 so fret not, friends! if you like the Clue movie with a little halloween spooky vibe and secrets all over, then give this one a shot. I really enjoyed it!

some parts were a smidge repetitive and I'm not entirely sure I'm the biggest fan of the very end, but I had fun, and thats all that really matters, overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Chronic illness, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

sierra_alexis's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I found this book very easy to be drawn into and fascinating to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, and Car accident

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It was a dark and stormy night… okay, but really—it was a dark and stormy night on an isolated island off the coast of Cornwall, where an estranged family has gathered for Nana Darker’s 80th birthday. Albeit awkward considering their weird family dynamic, a tense celebration of sorts ensues until Nana turns up dead at the stroke of midnight. One by one, the family members disappear accompanied by cryptic, poetic messages, but whodunit?? 

I can’t say too much without giving the whole story away, but this was a fun murder mystery! For sure a more modern take on Agatha Christie mysteries with a little “Knives Out” action. It also reminded me, at times, of “The Prestige” and “Shutter Island”. 

I will say that I guessed the final twists fairly early on, but still felt the satisfying shock when they were unveiled, as some pieces I definitely had not put together. 

The writing style was great, though I did find the book a little too long, and some of the flashbacks stunted the flow of the story a tad. Also, don’t go into this one expecting to like any of the characters—some I rather loathed, which was part of the point of course. 

Overall, a very on-brand read for Halloween season!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

icieri's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

amandaglowgetter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia

wordsofclover's review against another edition

dark 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

3.25

Daisy Darker has a bit of a dysfunctional family. No-body gets along but they have all gathered on Halloween to celebrate their Grandmother's 80th birthday and hear what she plans to do with her will and belongings. As the tension grows in the house on an island cut off from the mainland, someone is found dead, and every hour after that someone else is killed off. But who is the killer, someone in the family or is there someone else in the house?

This was a fun, fast-paced read for me and I enjoyed being transported from a rare sunny week in Dublin to a rainy, stormy island off the coast of the UK. Daisy's family makes any other family drama look tame and for this I also liked it - a representation of a not so perfect family, and one that is so imperfect they all fairly calm when they start being killed off one by one.

This felt like a Knives Out-esque type of novel mixed in with a bit of Agatha Christie which resulted in a fun time.

I did have some issues with the characters - Daisy felt very immature a lot of the time, and I couldn't understand the infantilization of Trixie as well who was 15 years old but often treated as if she was 8. The others in the family are so bad and over the top, that they did feel a little but unrealistic from Rose's superior attitude to Lily's downright terrible behaviour towards everyone. But in saying all of that, I still enjoyed the pace and plot of the book and I was very intrigued as to what was going on.

There was a good twist near the end of the book that I'm surprised I didn't see coming, but also helped explain some of my issues with the book at the start. I love twists that make you want to reread the book all over again armed with the new information to spot all the clues and this definitely made me want to do that! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness and Murder

Minor: Child abuse