Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards

7 reviews

annamwallace66's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

shmayjoy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

This novel reminds me of every awful time I've ever had to sleep under a charging station in an airport. If, like past me and a million other traveling students, you have ever had to face the usual miserable "delayed due to a blizzard" winter break lay overs, you can easily slide into the protagonist's shoes...even if you would never accept the ride she decided on.
Five Perfect Strangers takes an ordinary teen who needs to get home to her mom for the holidays, and the four college students heading the same direction. Richards throws us into the back roads of Pennsylvania to remind us not to trust a person solely by their appearance.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

simp4sneks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

cmayans's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.25

the ending was pretty fast paced and I liked the last couple pages where the Mira (main character) has a big realization with her mom

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

aconfundityofcrows's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

A good, but tense read if you like this sort of thing. :) Also it takes place over Christmas Eve, as the main characters travel across Pennsylvania from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Seeing as I read this during said dates and currently live in Pittsburgh, I find this a tad prescient.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and Vomit

Minor: Drug use, Medical content, and Alcohol

meganpbennett's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

Five Total Strangers is a fast-paced thriller, staring Mira, who agrees to get in a car with four strangers. They're all lying about something and they all have their motivations for why they have to get home before Christmas. Complicating matters, there's a very nasty snowstorm that is making the roads very dangerous to drive. 

Mira, desperate to get home to her mother, agrees to ride share with Harper, her seat mate from the plane. And then she learns that there's three other people in the car, and she knows none of them, but she can guess that they're rich. She's only in high school, but they think she's in college. Things go from bad to worse, when things start disappearing - a wallet, a book, a phone - and phone chargers start breaking. Soon, they're alone, on a deserted Pennsylvania county road, in a blizzard, with a man chasing them for stealing a tank of gas. And a creepy hitchhiker. 

I'm not sure what I think about the ending, finding that it spun up to fast and wound up too fast. I think there could have been some more explanations about what or why, or some indication of the police investigation that has to have been started. Or more information about the hitchhiker, since he was in various scenes, but no more information is available about him. He could be Jack Reacher, for all we know. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

jadesdpt's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, and Gaslighting