Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

21 reviews

soshereads_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

alicarty's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.75

Extremely slow in the beginning, but moves much faster in the last half. The twist was unexpected but makes sense for the storyline

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder

clarklyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This one took me on a wild ride. At the very beginning, I was concerned that I already had the twist figured out but it turns out the author had more in store!

It was SO obvious to be that Daisy was dead and I was worried that I had already figured out the “twist” so early on. In fact, I think I would give this book 5 stars if it had turned out that she wasn’t dead at all. However, I was still surprised and enjoyed the story. I don’t know how I feel about the murder suicide and leaving a 15 year old girl to be parented by her dead 13 year aunt…but 🤷‍♀️ I kind of wish it hadn’t been a supernatural twist and rather some other real life explanation but I did enjoy the fact that her horrible family ended up dead.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

yasaman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kiana_hi's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Physical abuse

elliephant's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

fanboyriot'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It definitely gave off And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (which was mentioned in the book) plus the narrator was great, her voice was quite relaxing.

I went into this knowing nothing about it and I kinda recommend that.  The plot is  much more interesting that way in my opinion.  However, it definitely felt dragged out and at times, it seemed like there were some unnecessary chapters but overall it was pretty entertaining.  

The plot twist near the end got me.  I wasn’t expecting that but I’m not sure how I felt about it at the same time.  Everything tied in together to the poem of the family.  Exposing the family secrets one by one leading them to the biggest secret of all and getting revenge for it after so many years.

And lastly, never cross Nana… or else you’ll end up like the rest of the Darker family.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Sexual harassment

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.5

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Daisy Darker’s family returns to Seaglass for Nana’s 80th birthday…but then they begin dying off one by one while trapped on the island at high tide, and family secrets come to light that will change everything.

This is my favorite of Alice Feeney’s novels so far! I’m a sucker for an And Then There Were None homage, and the setting/atmosphere of this one is absolutely perfect—seaside house, cut off from the world by a storm and high tide, and lots and lots of dead bodies piling up over one extra-creepy Halloween night. There’s also some very eerie poetry that really adds to the tension overall.

Most of all, I absolutely loved the writing style of this one—there are so many absolutely beautiful poignant quotes and brilliant details. And, while I won’t say more for fear of spoilers, I absolutely did not see the main twist coming (and audibly shouted at my book when it happened).

Highly recommend this to all thriller fans!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: locked room mysteries; dark family sagas; creepy seaside vibes

CW: Lots of death/blood/violence; discussions of terminal illness; discussion of animal death; physical and emotional abuse; suicide

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault

ejoymiller11's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Rounded up from 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book and found it entertaining, but I do think it could’ve been better. The flashbacks to Daisy’s childhood, while providing some nice context, dragged on a little too much compared to the rushed ending. I understand the author was trying to help us understand the characters and their flaws, but it was so slow and dragged the pace down from the present-day murder mystery chapters. I definitely think we could’ve had quicker summaries of character flaws and used those extra pages at the end of the book. 
.

The last 40 or so pages felt forced to me, like it was wrapped up a little too perfectly. While I love the twist of Daisy being dead the entire time (I totally had to go back and read some paragraphs!), I didn’t find Trixie’s motive realistic. I’m not sure I find murdering her entire family and turning herself into an underage orphan over a child aunt that died 15 years earlier believable. It just wasn’t compelling enough for me. I wish we had a longer ending and better explanation for Trixie’s motivations and justification. Nana’s made a little more sense to me, but it was still hard to find believable in my opinion.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Car accident

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

reader_i_married_him's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

If you love plot twists that give you whiplash and will have you gasping, this is the book for you! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Murder