Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain

11 reviews

smlima1992's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, and Physical abuse

courtney_1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child death, Suicide, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Alcohol

elizabethgreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A spooky and atmospheric read.

The author created a spooky atmospheric book set in a coastal Louisiana small town. The characters are multideminsual, flawed, and real.  The setting feels authentic and is wonderfully described.  Every character as their own secrets which creates a lot of mystery and tension.  The book is a small town suspense book with paranormal elements. This is not a true thriller. If you love psychics and other mystical powers  you should considering giving this book a try. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Child death, Addiction, and Child abuse

powellki's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I enjoyed the premise of this book, I enjoyed the beginning mystery. I wanted to know what had happened to Elora as badly as Grey did. There were a few twists and turns in the book I didn't see coming, especially the last hour of the audiobook. I am very disappointed with the ending because it turned into a very twisted love triangle (that had been hinted at throughout the book), and ends with the unnecessary death of multiple characters. I was also unhappy with the epilogue because it ends ambiguously. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Medical trauma, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Abandonment, Child death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Suicide, Vomit, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Alcohol and Blood

cbbyles07's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Physical abuse

Minor: Pedophilia

Very descriptive regarding hurricane, hurricane prep (may be triggering for someone that has weather related Phobias)

spaghettii's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I'm not sure how I feel about mixing psychic stuff with a murder mystery but it was pulled off really well!

Okay so I suspected Hart because he just wasn't suspicious-- which is suspicious. Evie though?? Absolutely not that was a complete shock.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Death, Cursing, Physical abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide, Child death, Death of parent, and Child abuse

debussy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Gun violence

anniereads221's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Incest, Physical abuse, Suicide, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

whatrhireads22's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Suicide, and Vomit

hannahadamson's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one. It was very atmospheric and the mystery aspect was really interesting. I absolutely loved the small town setting and I didn't know who to trust the whole time which kept things exciting.
I've been really enjoying dark, mystery books recently and this book gave exactly that.
 
However, the plot was very slow to unravel. Looking back on this, not a lot really happened. Therefore, I think this book could have been 100 pages shorter. I spent most chapters wanting more from it. For example, a lot of chapters would end on an exciting cliffhanger, but then the next chapter didn't resolve any of it.
Also, I really didn't like the scenes between Grey and a certain character.

(Hart)

It just felt like the same conversation was repeated over and over again 
Also I found that the ending wrapped everything up a little too quickly for me. The whole book was quite slow paced but then the big reveal at the end was over in a flash! And thats the best part of a mystery book, so I wish we'd spent a little more time there. 

In addition to this, I didn't really like any of the characters and I don't think them being psychics added much to the story, I think i'd have preferred this book if the supernatural elements of the book weren't there. 

Having said all that, I did read it really quickly and there were lots of twists and turns that kept me guessing and the reveal at the end did genuinely surprise me! Overall, if you're looking for a supernatural, small town mystery with a really dark and atmospheric setting I think you would enjoy this and I will definitely be picking up Ginny Myers Sain's books in the future! 

make sure to check the trigger warnings before reading this one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, and Death of parent