Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Mia inquieta Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

33 reviews

trashpossum's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

major TWs for this book!
an important book that illustrates the complexities and evolution that come with being a victim of abuse. a tough, heartbreaking read that grabs hold of you from start to finish. this book is fictional but the story feels all to real as it highlights the reality that a large portion of men are pedophiles. didn’t think i would like this book as much as i did but it ended up being one of the most profound things i have ever read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Infidelity

mbzoller's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Devistatingly relatable. More to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Death of parent

asimpson7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This was an interesting read. I would agree with many of the other reviews that this book is very dark and therefore I would not recommend for others to read this, especially if they have experience sexual abuse as it might be triggering. But this book was interesting in the sense that you are getting a glimpse into what some people who are abused live through and how they don’t view themselves as victims and believe they were consenting and wanted it. But I’m glad that towards the end Vanessa started to heal. Also how Strane dies is what I imagine to be fairly realistic in the sense that the victims don’t feel any sense of justice as he escaped retribution. Overall this book was well written as it made me feel incredibly sorry for Vanessa and disgusted by Strand and just so confused on how nobody did anything about it and how Vanessa didn’t think it was that bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

rchulin1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Such an amazing book very dark not for the faint of heart. So many triggers be mindful of them before reading but nonetheless my favorite book as of now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

skye_c's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Alcohol

hiraeth_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

nineinchnails's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

i feel weird reviewing and even rating this book considering the subject matter because even though it's technically fiction it feels horribly invasive, like reading someone's diary. it is very well written with beautiful prose and a protagonist who is extremely real and raw. the book did run a little long, especially considering there was little character development outside of vanessa but overall it was an extremely gripping read.

i would not recommend reading this as a survivor of rape and especially of child sexual abuse, more because of how adamant vanessa is that she was not abused than how graphic the abuse is written. it can be very hard to stomach her constant romanticisation and denial of strane's abuse, despite how obvious it us to us as readers that he manipulated her. 'manipulate' does not feel like anywhere near as strong of a word to portray how he controlled and exploited her.

vanessa is not a 'perfect victim' and she struggles with this well into adulthood; the idea that a woman must be perfectly chaste, perfectly humble, perfectly innocent, and perfectly untouched by the world to be believed or taken seriously as a victim is one that permeates our society to this day. what was she wearing?, she lead him on, she was asking for it, she wanted it. this novel does an incredible job at giving a voice to the many survivors who (unsurprisingly) don't fit that mould and showing a different perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Vomit, and Mass/school shootings

Grooming, Dissociation, Post traumatic stress disorder, Child sexual abuse, and Student/teacher relationship

ayladdy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

madelinego's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Extremely painful to read despite being engrossed by the story- this book wrecked me and I know I’ll find myself thinking about it months from now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, and Gaslighting

katreena's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment