alaina's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Rape, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
sldibened's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Outing, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Abortion, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Grief, Bullying, Child death, Infidelity, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Toxic friendship, Rape, and Stalking
cmahoney's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Eating disorder
lindsmann's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
I found Amber to be completely insufferable.
Spoiler
Just no redeeming qualities and motivated by nothing more than basically hating rich privileged people? Didn't feel super believable to me. Which, I guess things don't always have to be believable, so maybe relatable is the more correct word. She felt like a cartoon character of a villain almost. I did not enjoy being in her brain for the majority of the book.The reveal of her husband being a monster was interesting, but shadowed by the inclusion of sexual assault. And again, similar to Amber, it sort of felt out of place and random. More for the shock value than the plot. I think there could be other/better ways to showcase this abusive dynamic. I don't know, just wasn't totally for me I suppose.
That being said, it did keep me interested the whole time, curious to see where the story was going and what would happen next. So I do give it some props for that.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse
megs_readstoomuch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Cursing, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death of parent, and Fatphobia
Minor: Sexual assault, Alcohol, Confinement, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Violence, and Mental illness
suereadsslow's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Body shaming
taylorgatson'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? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Infidelity
daniellenelson's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Bullying, Violence, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Death, Chronic illness, Body shaming, Gun violence, Death of parent, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Classism, Terminal illness, Grief, and Gaslighting
kaylamarie11's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Rape, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse
Minor: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Abortion, Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Forced institutionalization
minimicropup's review against another edition
- 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
Main POV:
- A married parent with the ‘perfect’ family. They are a wealthy philanthropist dedicated to cystic fibrosis awareness and funding. They seem open-minded, docile, spoiled, and naïve due to loneliness.
- A single adult in their 20s working in a real estate office while going for the long-con in a self-concocted scheme to infiltrate the philanthropist’s life, although we don’t know why. It could be revenge; it could be because they are completely unhinged.
- Set mostly in a wealthy suburb near Manhattan, NY
- On the ‘juicy’ soap opera side of over-the-top. Not a story you want to go in overthinking or looking for meaningful commentary or symbolism from.
- I don’t mind OTT, but the SLOW OTT is hard to pull off, so although it was an interesting plot in theory, it fell apart in execution for me. I think it could have benefitted from some cuts because the slowness wasn’t contributing to the story, it was stalling it out. We have the story delivered through overreliance on hold-backs (“If only they knew what I was about to do”), overly descriptive scenes about the clothing and appearances of everyone, and a lot of MC internal monologue that involves reminding the reader of a goal or thought we are already are familiar with because it was previously revealed to us…sometimes multiple times!
- There are some problematic tropes in this book, but I think that’s forgivable with OTT/soap opera type plots. It’s like angrily therapeutic. Someone plotting to steal your life and destroy you in the process? Wouldn’t it be nice to find out they self-destructed? Yes, we have women throwing themselves at a man’s feet, being toxic to other women, and using each other to further their own goals. However, this plot used severe physical, emotional, sexual, AND verbal abuse as a major revenge element. It felt icky. But, we also have stories glorifying female serial killers, so just go in to this one aware that it falls into that territory.
- Juicy, behind closed doors domestic thriller
- B****, I’m gonna steal your life trope
- Slow, scheming, long-con sociopathic mind
- Guilty-pleasure soap opera revenge plots
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Ableism and Fatphobia
Minor: Abandonment and Death of parent
Sexual violence, rape, assault etc are on page, repetitive, and occur within a marriage. Ableism refers to reading difficulties in a child