Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena

40 reviews

swimmer120x's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.0

It was a book about a bunch of spoiled adult children who wanted their parent’s inheritance. Also, the narrator was awful. She had a very robotic sounding voice, which was difficult to tolerate at points. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Blood and Pregnancy

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

2.25

Book Rating: 2.25 stars

   I found this book hard to enjoy because I hated almost every character! They were all just dripping in privilege and entitlement. It made me honestly just scream at them and burn down our current inheritance policies. 

   Catherine was particularly unlikeable, as she didn't seem to have any redeeming qualities, she and Dan were the worst of the bunch. Dan was simply creepy AF. 

   The main mystery of the story wasn't too hard to solve by about halfway through the book. It was pretty obvious it was one of the kids. I honestly wish the author had gone another route as to who was the killer. I think Jenna's boyfriend would have been a good one to go with. But that's just me! 

   It wasn't terrible, but not nearly as good as I'd hoped with the hype. 

Narrator Rating: 2.0 stars

  This book just begged for a full cast audio, but instead, they just had one narrator which made it confusing, even in a 3rd person narration. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, and Abandonment

shaleen64's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

An upper class whodunit that encourages you to guess the murder from an unlikable and limited pool of suspects.

Whilst the multiple points of view meant the flow of the book was well paced the content was not, nor could it be described as thrilling. It read more like a crime drama and based on this book I can’t say I’d buy more by the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Infertility, Terminal illness, and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy

sharonus'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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Vomit

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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

4.0

I liked this one, even though I had a suspicion about the ending

because there just wasn't enough info about the character who ended up being the perpetrator. They just seemed too absent from the narrative.

But this was very intense, and I really like Ms. Lapena.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Infertility, Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

theinkwyrm's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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

3.5

A very popcorn-y thriller with lots of twists and rich people drama. Probably not very memorable in the long run, but kept me entertained and engaged while I was reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

brookey8888'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? Yes

3.25

This was entertaining, but I’ll never think of it again. It had a lot of reveals throughout which I didn’t see coming and I wanted to know what happened. As for who did it,it didn’t shock me. This was fine, if you like this author or if this sounds good pick it up, but if not your not missing anything amazing in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mmadill227's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Blood

bookishchaos's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I don't think this book deserves all the negative reviews it got. Like yes the second half got really slow and not a whole lot happened, but I was still invested all the way up until 75% and then I just skipped to the end to see who the killer was lol. It was exactly who I thought it was but I read a lot of thrillers. It was a nice read for a rainy afternoon. Not too long but not too short. I personally wouldn't recommend this though. It wasn't terrible, it was just alright.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, and Stalking

Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

emma6544's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse