Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel by Stacy Willingham, Stacy Willingham

58 reviews

aparker89's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

filthymedusa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I think the book got more interesting toward the end with the plots twists I’d say

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

jennaviolet's review against another edition

dark slow-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

0.5

Please don’t read this. There’s a lot of telling and no showing, no getting to the point. You can’t have all of the twists happen it makes no sense. It feels like this author read Sharp Objects, Where the Crawdads Sing, and other similar but better books and just took each plot point she liked and mixed them together. There is such a thing as too much detail. And none of these character relationships or explanations for even minor occurrences make sense or seem researched to even be plausible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Violence

sierrabowers's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I really liked this book! It was a great mystery/thriller that kept me guessing until the end. I really thought I had it figured out at about 50% of the way through, and I did have my suspicions about the actual ending as well. But it was very satisfying to piece everything together in the end! The only reason I didn’t give it a 5 stars is because I didn’t like the narrator of the audiobook, but the book itself is a 5!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

villenview's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Rape and Classism

eerieehobbit's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

decafdirtychai's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

 Another painful read about family and the horrors thereof! I think of “The Push” by Ashley Audrain. Incredible job of capturing the inherent exhaustion of being a woman. Almost five stars but not because I had trouble visualizing some scenes and the chapters were super short, like the reading equivalent of ending every sentence with an exclamation point 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

emilyjean917201999's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

tatjanasbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This was enjoyable! I was correct with who I thought did it and felt like it was so obvious. This book just felt so similar and like I’ve read it before. I can’t think of the book, but I read another book with the same plot basically. 
I did not see one thing coming, but I feel like that wasn’t the biggest reveal. This kept me entertained, but it was nothing amazing. The main character was kind of annoying and made stupid decisions. I also didn’t love the ending. 

I think if you’re new to thrillers this one is good, but if you’re read a few or a lot this would be nothing special. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting