Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

28 reviews

amplawrence's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

uranaishi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Abortion, and Pregnancy

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

4.5

What a rollercoaster ride!! I love Alice’s books and I never can guess the twists. One twist I loved, the other I didn’t. I really thought I knew where they were going and I did not 😂. It’s a great who done it mystery novel and I definitely recommend it as excellent reading! It will keep you up though, it’s pretty scary at times. But I loved it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

cpachet's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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? Yes

3.5

If you like Alice Feeney, this book does not feel like her other works. Typically I find she’s good at surprising me as a reader, but within the first few chapters, I predicted a major twist and spent the rest of the book until the reveal looking for clues to support my theory (I say this not as a brag, but because I was disappointed and felt unmotivated to keep reading). Few of the characters are redeemable

so when they started dying off one by one, I didn’t care and more relished their deaths. When Lily finally kicked it, I rejoiced. What an awful POS. Nana was cool and aside from Daisy, hers was the only death I was saddened by.

It’s a tragic tale of shitty parenting and monster siblings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Terminal illness, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, and Abandonment

_savannahreads_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

It was a dark and stormy night… okay, but really—it was a dark and stormy night on an isolated island off the coast of Cornwall, where an estranged family has gathered for Nana Darker’s 80th birthday. Albeit awkward considering their weird family dynamic, a tense celebration of sorts ensues until Nana turns up dead at the stroke of midnight. One by one, the family members disappear accompanied by cryptic, poetic messages, but whodunit?? 

I can’t say too much without giving the whole story away, but this was a fun murder mystery! For sure a more modern take on Agatha Christie mysteries with a little “Knives Out” action. It also reminded me, at times, of “The Prestige” and “Shutter Island”. 

I will say that I guessed the final twists fairly early on, but still felt the satisfying shock when they were unveiled, as some pieces I definitely had not put together. 

The writing style was great, though I did find the book a little too long, and some of the flashbacks stunted the flow of the story a tad. Also, don’t go into this one expecting to like any of the characters—some I rather loathed, which was part of the point of course. 

Overall, a very on-brand read for Halloween season!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

sampetsdogs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Y'all, she did it again. Alice Feeney is the QUEEN of plot twists and Daisy Darker left my jaw on the floor. She kept me guessing the entire time! This book is so disturbing and intriguing and, honestly, mind-blowing. 100% recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

kimveach's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

This book took a long time to get to the big reveal.  While I liked the ending, I thought about quitting this book many times, which isn't good.  I much preferred the author's "Rock Paper Scissors."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death