Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

49 reviews

bookishchaos's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I liked it at first but after 50%, the "twists" aren't too hard to figure out. There's two timelines in the story, one in the 70s (Mari's POV) and the other in present time (Emily's POV). I didn't care for Em's perspective and found it quite boring, but I loved Mari's story. Would have given this 4 stars if it was more focused on her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use

elisalasater's review

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Violence, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Pregnancy

heypretty52's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, Suicide, Stalking, and Blood

Spoiler

The grieving of an description of child death is explicit. The miscarriage by another character isn't explicit and is only briefly mentioned.

d0505's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Infidelity, Death, and Drug use

kathleenel's review against another edition

fast-paced

• 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: Child death

Moderate: Drug use

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this storytelling, and I was definitely kept guessing quite a few times during the story. I think the complicated friendship relationship was really interesting, and the kind of "mixed media" style kept the reader really paying attention.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Classism, Bullying, Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Murder, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug use, Medical content, Infidelity, Grief, Misogyny, Suicide, and Vomit

jamie_rich's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Drug use, and Blood

jkarki's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

This book really said "Oh you want toxic? Well strap on your hazmat suit!"
I don't think I really liked a single character in this book, but I loved to hate them. Emily and Mari were tolerable, but not sure why Emily didn't also

Spoiler

"let" Chess drown too.

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A nice easy read, would be a great beach read! Maybe don't read it if you're planning a trip to a remote Italian town and staying in an old villa though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Suicide, Murder, Child death, Infidelity, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Minor: Chronic illness, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Stalking

hannah_and_her_stories's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Grief, Alcohol, Death, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, and Child death

Minor: Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Suicide, Pregnancy, Drug use, Abortion, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

katharina90's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Reads more like a drama than a thriller. The twists and revelations mostly fell flat and I really didn't care about either of the two intertwined stories. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Child death

Minor: Drug use and Suicide