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a_bow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
heresyourletter'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
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death, Infertility, Sexism, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Blood
One character’s job is supplying women with poison to kill the men in their lives. Beetles are killed to make a poison. One minor character is an alcoholic. Infidelity is a prominent theme. An upperclass character uses her privilege to bully another character into doing her bidding. One character believes in ghosts and mentions feeling haunted by a character who died before the novel begins. Two different characters discuss trying (and failing) to have a baby.bluebellfallen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.25
Every single plot is centered around women wanting children and whether or not they have them and how that ruins or fulfills their lives after. Every single one. All of them. (I don't get it)
There are so many flaws (and I have so few spoons right now) that I will just say - it wasn't a good book, and it certainly wasn't the right kind of bad to be worth reading. 75% or more of the book crawled by, while the last 25% did all the heavy lifting in the most annoying, James Patterson writes chapters that are max 2 pages long and then jumps perspectives / scenes entirely to keep the tension up and he inspired me - esque way.
It just wasn't (in any way) worth my time, but because it's so mildly written and the author tries to hide behind "dark murder mystery" vibes to get away with a lot of shitty things (and the book isn't even a dark murder mystery btw - that's just the vibes she's going for), it would also be so very easy to just think "wow, that book was mid, but I wouldn't mind recommending the book if someone is bored or something", and then accidentally pass on, perpetuate, and re-normalize things like baby-obsession and "casual" emotional and mental manipulation at the hands of a spouse (which - if you know, you *know*).
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
The husband thing, for if you don't know, want to know, but don't want to read the book:brookey8888's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abortion, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Classism
pinkupengu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Incest, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Excrement
onlyvitro's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Terminal illness and Vomit
Minor: Incest and Sexual harassment
mattiedancer's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
- Fans of historical books that have a split POV with modern perspective
- Someone looking for a cool concept over everything else
- Fans of witchy history who are looking for an easy read
- Pregnancy, adultery, murder, sexism, misogyny, rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, violence, abuse, child abuse, child death, death, death of parent, self-harm, suicide, suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, terminal illness, poison, gun violence, medical trauma, classism, injury, injury detail, fire, pedophilia, incest, infertility
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
cowahbull's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
The story was interesting but rather slow paced and I didn't find that I liked any of the characters very much. Eliza was the only person I was rooting for.
The bond and relationships between women was lovely to see but it went a bit too far. It had almost no male characters and almost all of them were evil; hurting the female charcters for their own gain or pleasure and manipulating them. It's possible to tell a positive story about women empowering women without becoming anti-men, this book didn't quite manage that.
I may have listed a dozen reasons I didn't like this book but overall I had a good time reading it. The audio book had different readers for each chapter/charcter so it was more immersive. Good story!
Graphic: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Murder
taliatalksbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Classism
huntress's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment