Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey

14 reviews

emilyjean917201999's review

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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Stalking, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Incest, Self harm, and Torture

nrogers_1030'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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Pedophilia and Alcohol

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I believe this is my fourth Jess Lourey book and I can confidently say that she knows how to deliver and exciting mystery. One of my favorite subgenres is small town horror/thriller stories from a kids perspective that takes place in the not too distant past. That's very specific and Jess Lourey does a good job of it.

This book is about 16 year old Heather. She lives in a small town and wants to spend her summer playing drums in her band and spending time with her friends but things get crazy when a girl in town goes missing. Heather has to figure out who around her she can trust and unravel the mystery while trying to watch out for her younger sister, deal with her mom's unpredictable mental health, and struggle with the fact that her friends are growing up faster than her.

This wasn't a perfect story but I like with this authors other books, I found myself enjoying the process so much that I felt I needed to give it a pretty high rating.

Heather is a super likeable character. You can really feel the bond between her and her friends. A lot of Heathers feelings about her friends and growing up are super relatable.

The mystery unravels at a pace that makes you want to read this book in only a few sittings. 

There were some things I didn't like. I felt like the climax of the book could have been a bit more exciting - it almost felt a bit rushed. I also wanted to know a bit more about Healther's mom and the reasoning behind Heathers "accident". There was a lot of things that were hinted at, especially regarding the camps and such. But I felt like I didn't get all the answers. I also felt like the moms should have done more to protect their daughters if there was something sus going on in the town. I have questions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Kidnapping

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Excrement

A girl is kidapped, kept in a dungeon and raped over the course of about 2 weeks. The descriptions of the rape are not graphic. A girl sees her underage friend blowing a few adult guys in a dark room - we find out she's doing it for money. Our main character is made to take her shirt off and have her photo taken. There's a lot of sexual harrassment towards all the young girls in this book but none of it is too graphic.

jadynnotsmith's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

The quarry…. Girls. Yes girls. Stupid stupid cops. Dumb dumb men cops. Cops in the 70’s EVEN WORSE. Wait small town men cops in the 70’s?! WAAh i can’t take this anymore!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

hookerkitty's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

alindeman's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

God this book was heart wrenching. A brutal read, really. I think what was so hard about this book is knowing that this isn’t fiction, not really. I have no doubt that there are countless “mind your business” small towns like Pantown, where evil goes unchecked and everyone turns a blind eye. I also have even less doubt that there are plenty of men out there just like this book. I hope they rot in hell.
CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide

lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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? No

1.5

The premise of The Quarry Girls was interesting, but the execution fell short.

Set in 1977, the story was supposed to be about a normal summer until girls started to go missing. As a fan of mystery thrillers, I was drawn to this book, but ultimately didn't enjoy it.

The villains were easy to guess and the writing became both repetitive and convoluted. The author relied too heavily on reminding readers that men are untrustworthy and that one should always be on guard. Additionally, the backstory was often provided in a way that interrupted the present scene, leaving the reader feeling lost.

The writing tried too hard to capture a Western vibe, which was distracting and made it seem like the author was trying too hard. However, the tone was well done and set the atmosphere effectively.

 Overall, I gave The Quarry Girls 1.5 stars (0.5 for the interesting premise and 1.0 for the successful tone). I would only recommend it to readers who are fans of mystery thrillers and have run out of other books to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

emmalizzz's review

emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was such a fun listen to kick off warmer weather! It’s faced paced and once it starts it does not slow down. I love the dual POV and it leads to a really exciting scene towards the end of the book! The plot twist is a tad predictable, but didn’t make it any less enjoyable. The main character, Heather, and her friends remind me of my friends and I growing up in a small town, and while they can all be dumb and frustrating sometimes, they’re easy to love. The creep factor was definitely upped with the addition of the mining tunnels connecting all of the houses and there are some really disturbing visuals, which of course is what I’m here for. Overall an easy, quick, enticing story that gives you all of the spooky summer small town feels!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, and Police brutality

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

jenlindeman's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

smkelly1997's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Tragic. Beautiful. Beautifully tragic. There is no other way to describe this book. Heather has you rooting for her from day one as you watch her world change around her. She’s strong, brave, and terrified but willing to stand up for those she loves. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment