Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

You Shouldn't Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose

28 reviews

readingwithbritney's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

While I did like the ending of this book and thought it was interesting in the end, there were a lot of unanswered questions for me. All of the characters were unlikable. The story was pretty slow until about halfway through the book, and then it started to pick up. This one was a little predictable in my opinion. I love Jeneva Rose and her writing style, but this one just wasn’t it for me. Also, I didn’t like the way Calvin kept describing Grace’s eyes as “blue, blue.” I think it was said waaaay too much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

blackcatkai's review against another edition

medium-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

2.0

CW: ableism, mental illness, blood, sex, violence, fire, murder, kidnapping, gaslighting, car accident, sexual assault, alcohol use, demonization of mental illness, ugly/large characters are outwardly described as creepy & gross, misogyny, animal death, cringey af everything, making light of domestic abuse by referring to a tank top as a wife beater.....

this is like if lifetime tried to make a hallmark romance movie but couldn't stop themselves from also trying to make a thriller. I somehow called the entire twist at the end from the first 5 pages. either im absolutely amazing, or this premise was not executed all that well.

I don't hate the overall idea of the story, but I personally feel it would've been better put together by a completely different author. there is so much cringey dialogue, inner thoughts, romance, and clichés all over.

I will give jeneva credit though: I couldn't stop reading. but more because it was like a train wreck that you simply can't tear your eyes away from. though I also couldn't stop rolling my eyes just about every few pages. so there's that, I guess....

now lemme get one SPOILER out of my head:
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AM I SUPPOSED TO BE SHOCKED THAT SHES A SERIAL KILLER WITH AN ENTIRE FAMILY? a husband and kids that love her? yeah, no fucking shit. most serial killers in real life do. this isn't abnormal or shocking in any way. most are fully involved in their community, friends, family, church, all over. but I guess if you're new to horrible people, then that could work for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

brandieh21's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

diannasbooks's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent

ruthypoo2'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book exceeded my expectations and ended up being a blast to read. The story is told in two distinctive points of view by alternating narrators. This is a psychological thriller where the reader is following a woman, Grace Evans, who in an effort to take some time away from her busy life, books an Airbnb stay at a farm in remote Montana. Grace's host is the rugged and alluring Calvin Wells. Grace's priority is putting herself first and she isn't looking for a hook-up, but you never know what might happen.

Both Grace and Calvin are interesting and the way they narrate their side of the story is so well done. The reader has a general idea that something's not quite right on Calvin's property, but the story doesn't make it easy for the reader to be sure of who's at risk and who's the danger. There are also a number of secondary and peripheral characters that bring more dimension to the story and complicate what's happening.

In reading this one, I had suspicions, and changed my mind, and suspected different people of being bad actors and having bad intentions. I got frustrated with my girl Grace a few times in thinking she was an idiot, but I got over that as the story progressed. It was a fast read because of the quick chapters and hard to put down because at the end of each chapter I was anxious to find out what happened next. It's best to go into reading this story with as little information as possible and enjoy the ride, right up to the end!

Keep in mind, as one of the lines in the book says, "That was the thing about point of view. You saw things the way they presented themselves, but that didn't make them true."

I listened to the audiobook, and it was a treat having two different narrators: a female, Andi Arndt, reading Grace's chapters and a male, Andrew Eiden, reading Calvin's chapters. I thought they both captured the characters personalities so well and even brought a touch of playfulness at the right times in the story. Highly recommend listening to this one if you like audio.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

bookworm_43's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

katyannreads's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

I flew through this book and did enjoy it. I didn’t find it suspenseful or in a thriller genre at all. It didn’t get “suspenseful” until the 85-90% mark of the book. I found Calvin to be whiny, needy, and too codependent on others. Grace was kind of meh.

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Car accident

Minor: Confinement, Gore, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit