Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden

13 reviews

meg1241's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

I couldn't stop listening. The twists at the end had me questioning everything I thought was true!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Gun violence, Medical content, Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Classism

girl_on_a_beach's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

wordsgirlie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

🔪 psychological thriller.
— medium-paced, stand-alone pov

“in life, things never go quite the way you want them to. but when you’re creating your own fictional world, you can make everything happen exactly how you want to.”

you know the feeling when you think you know what’s going to happen, but it turns out you are entirely wrong? that’s what i felt when i finished this book. the story follows sylvia who is hired to take care of a bestselling author’s wife, victoria, whose seemingly perfect life shatters after a tragic accident leaves her unable to communicate or care for herself. as the story goes, sylvia soon discovers that victoria’s condition may not be as it seems. 

when i read the first part, i suddenly remembered my favorite book of colleen hoover—verity. the story almost has the same concept as verity, especially the first few chapters. the plot was so interesting and it definitely got my attention right away. the fmc—sylvia—really entertained me in the most irritating way. plus, everything she does and her stupid decisions made me so mad. 

yes, the story seems predictable at first, but it wasn’t. i love the fact that it gets weirder and weirder every flip of the page, to the point that i just couldn’t put the book down. i can’t even describe the frustration i’m feeling everytime the chapter ends with a cliffhanger. overall, it was a very easy and fun read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Murder

melanielk's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage and Medical content

spocksgotfeelings's review against another edition

the most heinous crime was the writing of this book. i regret reading it. thematic assertions included:
-crazy people are dangerous and want to hurt you no matter how much medication you sedate them with
-you should not believe women claiming to be abused by theor husbands, especially if the husband is nice to you
-fat people are ugly and being fat is an indicator of a character flaw, and is disrespectful to your romantic partner. 
worst read of the year. sorry to be blunt. I usually don't even write whole reviews but this book actually dealt me psychic damage to read and I feel the need to warn people away. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

maggieparedesauthor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

tierraskye's review against another edition

fast-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

jenniferbowman's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

ericanoll11's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

sunnybwrites's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.5

I love Frieda’s books. My only gripe is there was a lot of themes and imagery clearly lifted from her other books that made this feel a bit weaker than her other titles.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, and Pregnancy