Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

43 reviews

jellypop's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

2.75

the plot started out interesting and tense once you find out what happened to the main character, but after about halfway into the book the story loses some of its thriller-esque qualities. the story becomes more of a mystery and it becomes a little ridiculous when it comes to the interactions between two individuals. i did enjoy reading about their relationship and seeing it develop but that was not meant to be the focus of this book. there are some very heavy trigger warnings for this book and i liked the main character but wasn’t overly attached to her. there is a plot twist that i did not see coming that kept the ending a satisfying one for me not to rate it a flat 2 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Pregnancy

sadie_hawkins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Started out and went on great but the ending was truly not it. Felt like an afterthought, no originality, not suprising. I really wasn't satisfied with it. Therefore not a mystery but a psychological thriller, and even though it was about such a sad thing, I really found it captivating. I found the writing quality high enough until the part she was found. I am still happy I read it, would recommend, just don't expect a good ending lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Murder

olivebusson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

mbredahl3's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Car accident

daphelba's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was truly a solid 4 stars for me, I read it in a day, tore through it. It was exactly the kind of story I like with themes and concepts that always draw me in (kidnapping, being held against will, abuse, survival, and processing after trauma, etc.)

When i'm not deeply moved by something with these themes, I have to wonder if it's me...just reading too much of the same kinda stuff and becoming desensitized, but when I reflect on this particular rendition I realize it was missing psychological depth. There is a part in the book that is horribly sad (iykyk), and obviously, in that moment it can be hard for a person to really process and explain exactly what they're feeling, but I would have expected to see deeper psychological processing during the healing phase, and there just wasn't. There could be a couple of reasons for this: 

1. 1. If the author chooses to delve into that type of processing, to create psychological depth to their character, they run the risk of having half their audience say "that's not how someone would act in this situation...", which is always a narrow-minded viewpoint, but common nonetheless. 
   2. That may not be the author's area of strength in writing and they'd rather not try to go there. 
   3. Or, that just wasn't the genre of the book. But if not, I think it's very interesting to have most of the book told through the therapy setting. Sure, some of therapy is the reliving and telling of experiences, but you'd expect that more often the narrator would break down, be unable to continue the session...

While I really enjoyed this book, appreciating the subject and much of the content, and while the book truly gutted me for a moment in the middle -- I can't help but feel stories like this which seem to exist for the thriller/mystery aspect more than the psychological growth aspect, are a bit exploitative. Yes, of characters who do not exist, but also of real humans, sometimes readers, who are looking to process grief or trauma or find their own growth in media with themes that they can relate to in some way. I dock the book a point for this. 

There were a couple of moments that were notable for me in showing, psychologically, how life experiences had impacted the main character and the secondary character and I'll be thinking about these for a while: 

Annie's kidnapper detailed his relationship with his adoptive mother and his introduction to sexual relationships through her...he talks about how he witnesses her "smile" during a sexual event, and it had me thinking about how he might have learned to be aroused by a lack of enjoyment from his sexual "partner" because he linked his mother having sex with a bad an as something that should have upset her, scared her, not made her happy...so, that was depth.

Additionally, Annie has sex with a character once she is back to "normal" life, and she notes that she has to be in control, that she doesn't want him to look at her, that she doesn't want him to touch her or really be involved, but instead to just allow her to use him. One wonders if this is simply because she's having a hard time feeling safe and connecting with someone sexually, OR, if there is now something twisted and deeper in there... if now, sex has to have this bent to it, that of the two people partaking, one should have all the power. Annie seems to acknowledge openly that this is how she needs to engage in sex for the time-being, but doesn't express the function of this behavior for her...is it arousing, or just functional?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

persephone__'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Alcohol

suzanne28's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

mystarryeyes's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Trigger warning for this book for infant loss, SA, and Physical abuse. The infant loss part of the book was very hard to get through. Don’t read before bed.  But man oh man was this book good. I loved the main character. She’s so human, and I loved how her healing journey was not portrayed as linear. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

killmoore_'s review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is one of the most gut wrenching books I have ever read. Just about every twist and turn absolutely wrecked me, and my heart broke for Annie with every chapter. 

I'd give anything to read it for the first time again, ngl. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

redefiningrachel's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, and Panic attacks/disorders