ashley_turch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Personally was disappointed in the ending. It didn’t feel realistic to me. Maybe the format didn’t allow me to fully picture the characters being capable of these things —
Spoiler
the murder, that is. I definitely caught the other illegal things happening.Would have liked a closer look into Issy’s mental illness issues. Plus why did Martin treat James like such shit? Left with some questions , but maybe that’s the point?
Graphic: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Child death, Murder, Terminal illness, Child abuse, and Cancer
Moderate: Medical trauma, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infertility, Sexual assault, and Violence
Besides murder, most of the content is not super descriptive due to the nature of the book’s letter format. SA is discussed as something that happened in the past. Not graphic. Someone marked animal death/cruelty for this, but as someone who can never stomach that type of content, it ended up being totally fine. Calling it animal death was a stretch. (Explaining below - no major spoilers but hiding just in case)Spoiler
The family dog has a foreign body obstruction surgery while being dogsat. The owner says to the sitter that if the surgery is more than $100 to just put the dog down. Messed up, yes, but doesn’t affect anyone. The surgery was paid for by a family member and the dog recovered swimmingly. He wasn’t mentioned again after this and seemed to be a happy boy from there on out.stepnic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, War, Suicide, Infidelity, Infertility, and Cursing
gillianengelbrecht's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Infertility, Sexual assault, Cancer, Murder, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Infidelity
Minor: Suicide, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Bullying
zosiablue's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying, War, Murder, Mental illness, and Child abuse
Minor: Infertility
atalea's review against another edition
- 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
2.75
Graphic: Cancer, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness
Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse
Minor: Child death, Excrement, Pregnancy, Vomit, Rape, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Infertility, and War
calicat42's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Although I fell in love with the structure, the content left me wanting a little. There were times where the plot moved quickly because the twists and turns were coming in every line. Yet there were times where I wished I could have read in x2 speed to move things along. I think this just comes to my preferences regarding mysteries; I don’t want to take my foot off the gas once the plot picks up!
Overall, I enjoyed the read!
Graphic: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Stalking, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: War
isabellalinares's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
I've already recommended it to so many people.
Graphic: Infertility, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Death, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Cancer, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, and Toxic friendship
jennshelfishlife's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
There are numerous characters in the story; fortunately, it was easy to follow each of their accounts since the characters are outlined in the Fairway Players theatre group's role sheet.
Martin Haywood's family, the alpha family, is undergoing a tragedy in their family as the young granddaughter is diagnosed with rare brain cancer. The family needs a life-saving therapy, still undergoing testing, in America, which leads to a crowdsource event led by the Fairway Players. However, the story is not as simple as that, and readers will delve into the Haywood family's discourse with Dr. Tish Bhatoa and the latter's history. Sam, a nurse, and new Fairway Player, begin to dig to uncover her suspicions of Dr. Bhatoa and finds more than she expected, leading to her untimely death.
A lot can be said about the story and the multiple storylines and how they intersect, but I will leave that to the readers. This reader would also like to note that the irony of the play being rehearsed is not lost on this reader.
The Appeal is a page-turning novel that left this reader appalled and amazed at how the story and the mysteries were unveiled.
The story has triggers (e.g., fraud, cancer, murder, rape), but they are mild, except for the fraud.
I recommend this novel to fans of mysteries and epistolary storytelling.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Child death, Infertility, Child abuse, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
odrib's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Cancer, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Stalking
Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Infertility, Addiction, Child death, and Excrement
mysterymom46's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Gaslighting and Sexual assault
Minor: Infertility and Bullying