Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

What Lies Between Us by John Marrs

64 reviews

kchann's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Kidnapping, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy

petab's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

minimicropup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Main POVs 👍: We follow the perspective of two MCs over the course of a childhood and adolescence through to older adulthood

• A parent. Overprotective in a behind-the-scenes way. One of their relationships gives their life meaning and they don’t really know who they are without that person.
• An adult child of the above-mentioned parent. Also overprotective. One of their relationships gave their life meaning, and they don’t really know who they are without that person.

 

Atmosphere 👍: Mysterious, menacing, and uneasy. Created through timelines and dual perspectives to gradually unravel why our MCs seem so “off” in their reactions to the dysfunction around them.

• Set in the UK in a townhouse and the surrounding neighbourhood

 

Cred Rating 👍👩‍👧👩‍👦: Plausible with realistic true crime undertones

• Realistic to plausible family dysfunction and personality disorders that could be a true crime case, with a touch of OTT flair. 
• Realistic portrayal of how family dynamics can devolve into dysfunction and the creation of adult monsters because of seemingly innocuous protective reactions. 

 

Growls and Howls 🐺: 

• The mix of “past” and “present” chapters are titled and served in a way that is engaging and flows well with the reveals and twists. We don’t have to wait a long time for our predictions to be validated (or reshaped!) as we get more information about the past and present. 
• Prepare to mentally scream at the MCs. I didn't mind, because we get lots of insight into their minds and it was consistent with how they perceive and rationalize.
• Repetitiveness on some of the current events in the last half of the book that I think could have been trimmed. The “higher stakes” discussions felt like they were drawn out for too long and I had to hold back from skimming. However, this may have been my own bias because it all involved medical content that was terrifying to me, so I may have been a little too aware of every time that topic came up.
  early signs of treatable cancer that are being denied treatment
• Very twisty-turny plot. Not from being unfairly “tricked” (no Scooby Doo mysteries here) or excruciatingly suspense-baited (minimal “if only they knew what I had done” writing). I predicted a handful and was stunned by a handful. It didn’t feel OTT or overdone, and even as things escalated the characters stayed true to their perspectives, so it didn’t disconnect me from the story (it drew me in…even when I did NOT want to be there!)

 

Reading Journey 🫢: Following some recent acquaintances in a car on a day trip and you discover they don’t check their blind spots, meander on the highway, drive way too fast on the side streets, and navigate twisty roads by speeding-braking-barely making ‘em. You are grateful to be safe and sound in your own little car the whole time.

 

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Twisty-turny thriller/suspense plots
• Following a parent-child relationship over multiple decades
• Exploration of the theory of genetic sexual attraction (not actually this but like, adjacent to or echoes of it), mother-child relationships, nature-vs-nurture, obsession, and family dysfunction
• Coming-of-age elements (the dark side!)
• Fight-for-your-life survival plot with a side of Stockholm syndrome

 

Vibes: 🤯🫢😵

 

Content Heads-Up: Confinement. Familial obsession. Hints of pedophilia, adult/minor relationships, and dissociative disorders.

 

Format: Kindle Unlimited

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Torture

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Infertility, Violence, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Grief, and Medical trauma

lovelydeadgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

stacey_reads_books's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I did enjoy this book, I found myself looking forward to bedtime so I could read a bit more and find out what next. I also found it stayed with me after reading it. However, to enjoy the book I did have to suspend my belief as so much happened that I felt wouldn't realistically happen in real life. I'm not complaining as it still provided some great escapism. 

I was shook by the ending. Don't expect a happy ever after.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

emeraldsanto's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Well, I don't think I've ever read a story with more twists and turns than this one.

I'm usually a fan of the confined space genre (shoutout to "Never Lie" by Freida McFadden) which mixes very well with mysteries/thrillers, but this one definitely takes it a step further than most.

There's just so many layers to this plot, each one unravelling itself before you in a precisely timed manner, leaving you absolutely no time to get bored.

Marrs manages to explore the many different storylines without losing the reader in the details. This mission is especially well supported by the author's writing style, which I found to be more straight to the point than others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

aspyfinny's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

sassykassy08's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

10/10, highly recommended. Enjoyed this mystery thriller immensely, the way it was told and the angles the author used. Had me guessing the whole way. Psychologic thriller for sure! Loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

bibrarian_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

freckles_13'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

If you want a dark, twisted book with characters who have done such questionable actions due to their “love” for another, then this is the book for you.

It’s dark and heavy to read, with scenes that are so dour and sad that it physically pains you to read. No character is right, all of them are morally wrong due to their extreme ways of dealing with their past.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment