Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

143 reviews

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

3.75

You know as I was reading I knew this wasn't going to be my favorite thriller, but Alice Feeny was the 1st ever thriller author I've ever read so I decided to give her another go after all this time considering I've been craving a thriller. Now the first 60 pages or so are very slow, almost reaching dnf territory but I decided to trust the process and it definitely did get more interesting after that. Lots of red herrings and misdirects. There were some dull parts, but I was enjoying my time overall until 90%-ish when we found out the "big twist". I already guessed who the murderer was, but the twist had me subconsciously rolling my eyes. Like c'mon.

I will say this till I'm blue in the face, but I can't stand when thriller authors make a non-supernatural story supernatural just for shock value. It will always feel like a cop-out to me. I did like the reason behind why Trixie and Nana murdered the family though. It was sweet, macabre, but sweet.

This book was approaching a solid four stars until the twist, but it was an okay book overall. Oh also, something that irked me was how deliberately poetic the author was trying to make this book. Like it felt like every paragraph was filled with some nonsensical metaphor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicide, and Medical content

jpullin1415's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Child death and Terminal illness

Minor: Alcoholism and Suicide

alicarty's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

Extremely slow in the beginning, but moves much faster in the last half. The twist was unexpected but makes sense for the storyline

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder

gardenofeedz's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

5.0

I don't often give out 5 star ratings, I don't often LOVE books. This book is perfect. It is so complex, so well done, so twisty, so sad, so much better than anything else in the genre. Wow. Fans of murder mystery fiction: you must read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, and Alcohol

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

clarklyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This one took me on a wild ride. At the very beginning, I was concerned that I already had the twist figured out but it turns out the author had more in store!

It was SO obvious to be that Daisy was dead and I was worried that I had already figured out the “twist” so early on. In fact, I think I would give this book 5 stars if it had turned out that she wasn’t dead at all. However, I was still surprised and enjoyed the story. I don’t know how I feel about the murder suicide and leaving a 15 year old girl to be parented by her dead 13 year aunt…but 🤷‍♀️ I kind of wish it hadn’t been a supernatural twist and rather some other real life explanation but I did enjoy the fact that her horrible family ended up dead.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

hsage21'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

yasaman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

jesskreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Daisy Darker - Alice Feeney ⭐⭐⭐

📚 I recommend this if you love a closed circle of suspects, split timeline mystery 

Genre: Mystery 
Number of Pages: 336
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Publisher: Pan Books
Series or Standalone: Standalone 
Tropes & Themes: isolation, inherited property, closed circle of suspects, family trauma, dark past, locked room, unreliable narrator, jealousy, split timeline 

I really wanted to love this book, I was instantly drawn to the cover after seeing it! I've read other books by Alice Feeney that I enjoyed, so borrowed this one from my local library.
Oh
I liked the use of rhyming and the focus on the use of poems to aid the telling of the story. Definitely had unreliable narrator vibes throughout - an isolated family reunion was never going to end well!
I felt the ending was a bit disappointing (which I can't explain too much without spoiling) but it had a slight plot twist I wasn't expecting/didn't like!  a real shame

Favourite quote: "I have a secret of my own. And some secrets are worth killing to keep"

📖 Brief plot summary 
Daisy Darker is having a family reunion for her grandmother's  80th birthday. The Darker family haven't all been in the same place for a decade. When the tide goes in, the house is isolated from the mainland for 8 hours. When the tide goes out, nothing is the same as one of them is a killer!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, and Death of parent

thebookaddict's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Jeetje mineetje wat een boek. Ik heb dit boek verslonden. Ik vond dit in het begin een vreemd boek, maar na het lezen van het einde valt alles op zijn plek. Wat een einde zeg, ik zag dit niet aankomen maar het is zo logisch. Alle details kloppen! De gedichten in het boek maken het in mijn mening af, het geeft een luguber tintje aan het boek. Ik heb hem gelezen in April, maar ik raad aan om hem rond Halloween te lezen, dan kom je helemaal in de spooky vibes. Ik ga zeker meer van deze auteur lezen en dit boek is op mijn toplijst komen te staan!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol