Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

37 reviews

chip8401's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

sleepylit's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It’s honestly a great story, but it has an extremely slow beginning in my opinion. It took at least ten chapters for me to stop falling asleep in the midst of reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

meaghanslibrary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

Hmm I feel like this is more in between a 3.75 and a 4. 

The way I realized the author writes mysteries is with light cliffhangers. The chapters are short and alternate points of view. Each chapter ends with a bit of a longing for wanting more but it’s not so much that you’ll get nightmares or stay up all night thinking about it if you don’t read the whole book in one sitting.

To some extent, I enjoyed that for the health of my sleeping habits. But on the other hand, I think the best mysteries on the ones I couldn’t put down.

The big twist that they were a family really got me that had a lot of shock factor. But after that the subsequent twists I semi expected. For instance the connection between the housekeeper character and the granddaughter seemed the most obvious. The wine cellars being used as a way to pay for women was not surprising. The fact that Ben was still alive was kind of shocking although I did suspect the dad was in fact killed but that Ben probably also was killed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jenna_justi2004's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Ohmygod so good. Like the best read of the year so far. Multiple point of views, each complicated and confusing  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

black_cat_iiix'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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Classism, and Deportation

Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Stalking, Car accident, and Deportation

bringmybooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

2.75

Wow, that's, uh, that's a lot

B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗪 ✨ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷

I told my friend that I had never read any of Lucy Foley's books but had borrowed The Paris Apartment and The Guest List from the library - she told me she much preferred The Guest List (and most other people seem to feel the same way) - so I thought, "Ok, well then I'll read The Paris Apartment first, so it can only go up from here!"

And, well, let's hope it goes up from here. This one was very middle of the road for me, a lot a lot a lot a lot of content warnings (some unnecessary, imo) but there were a couple of twisty twists so I guess that's fun. 

It's hard to say "Oh, I don't think you should read this," because it's a fast paced, quick read, and if you super enjoy that kind of suspenseful thriller book I think you might like it. But at the same time if someone asks me to recommend them a suspense / thriller book, this isn't the first (or second .... or third) one I would go for.

Now on to The Guest List...!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

alisonfaith426'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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Trafficking, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Confinement, Grief, and Abandonment

fraise's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Police brutality, Trafficking, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Deportation

growintogardens's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Enjoyed isn't quite the right word for this book, but it kept my attention and I think overall made a good thriller. It also surprised me a few times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Stalking

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Police brutality

prairieraven's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism