Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

61 reviews

gellyreads's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

I feel like I should probably give this 5 stars because I devoured it. But, it just felt like something was missing. I'm not sure. Although, this is the best true crime book I've read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, Death, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Child death, Torture, Murder, Violence, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Body shaming, Slavery, Cursing, Confinement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Blood

emilyrosebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

As far as true crime goes, this is fast paced, fascinating, and like watching a train wreck happen. I apparently don't have the stomach for true crime, at least now when it comes to child abuse, because I thought this was horrific. I am giving it 5 stars because as far as true crime goes it is a fantastic book, but you better have a strong stomach to get through the prolonged sadistic torture Shelly Knotek dispenses on her many victims. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Child death

debc64's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

asmokeybear's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Cursing, Confinement, Drug use, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Excrement, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

ohyeahshebomb's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Abandonment, Violence, Addiction, Excrement, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Torture, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical trauma, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

erinhunt's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

1.5

The topics in this book are heavy. This ended up being an accidental DNF as the kindle version only seemed to download to 83%. The pacing of the book was extremely slow and felt repetitive (perhaps to demonstrate cycles of abuse). The content was pretty disturbing and the story itself didn’t seem to evolve. Maybe the final 17% gave the story something more, but i’m okay with where I left off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, Torture, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Gaslighting

twistykris's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

3.75

The abuse and torture so many endured at the hands of Shelly (and Dave) is absolutely horrific. A very difficult read for the content involved (PLEASE check trigger/ content warnings).

I understand how difficult it must have been to compile all of this information from multiple people, but at times the book felt very repetitive and used a lot of unnecessary metaphors. 

Also, I have

Spoiler

VERY little sympathy for Dave. Yes, he was abused by Shelly and being a victim of someone so terrifying can alter your mentality, I know. But you CANNOT tell me he didn't know that what she was doing was so fucking wrong. He literally shot and killed his own nephew because she told him to. He watched his wife abuse her children and grown adults. He says he didn't know bleach was bad for the skin and thought it was fine that Shelly made Ron soak his feet in boiling water and bleach?? HUH?! And the fact they're both OUT AND FREE? Disgusting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism and Animal cruelty

lemonsyellow's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Physical abuse

a_lyttle_book_blog's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Murder, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Bullying

ids100's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Torture, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Murder and Death