Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

26 reviews

clo_l's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

randilion28's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

4.25

At first I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy the book... It took me a couple weeks to finish it. Normally when I enjoy a book I devour it... It's not until the last third of the book that I couldn't put it down. I 100% did not see where it was going to end and when I did.. wow! Definitely worth the read... I love when I can't figure out the book before I finish.... I do wonder if I missed a couple red herrings because I wasn't 100% invested in it and for a long time I couldnt understand why one of the narrators was even apart of it and the. You get to a certain chapter and you just .. can't wrap your mind around it! I say give it a shot. I see mixed reviews all the time but I'm glad I finished it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

insideunder's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A delicious twistery. Unfortunately, I did not see the twist coming.

A win for problematic, messy and selfish lesbian representation, lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, and Rape

crazybooklady89's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Wow! Just wow!! It is NOT often that I am completely and utterly taken by surprise with a twist. Usually I have some inkling of what is to come, but this book got me good! I’m giving 5 stars for that fact alone. Other than that, the story was really interesting, and I enjoyed the multiple perspectives. Sometimes having multiple timelines (in those case there were 3 timelines running throughout the book) gets really confusing, but the author did a fantastic job of keeping everything clear and linear in a non-linear book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

swimmer120x's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

There are some strong content warnings of

confinement

and

kidnapping

in the beginning sections of the novel. It was difficult to listen to because of the graphic details. Then the book became less graphic for a while. I felt like this book was kind of a story within a story, as it bounces between characters’ perspectives, such as Meredith, Kate, and Leo, from present day and eleven years earlier. In the middle of the story, I felt like it was kind of distracting because I wanted to get back to the gripping beginning (although maybe I didn’t, because it was a bit too graphic). I had to remember the details of several families due to this, and at times, it felt like a lot to remember. In my opinion, this is what took it from a fast paced novel to a medium paced novel. However, just finish the book. It’ll make sense.

It’s all connected in the end.

I finished it in three days. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity and Blood

Minor: Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

the suicide isn’t actually a suicide, but rather a homicide to look like a suicide

Overall, there is a toxic friendship, but you don’t discover that until the end of the book

kris_tea516's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Ok. This book. I have lots of opinions. lol

The story is disturbing but I wouldn’t say it was “bad.” It definitely held my attention but, man, was I stressed out & need to cleanse my soul with some comedy. There are few people I would recommend it to &, if you have kids, maybe skip this one. 

Some complaints: 
- There is SO MUCH unnecessary details that make the book at least 1/4 longer than it needed to be. 
- I’ve been a doula &, while there is some truth in what she writes about that field, there is a lot of incorrect info 
- There are tangents she seems to go on at times that do nothing to do with the story that it almost feels Ike a story written so she could get on her soapbox on certain opinions of hers. Some chapters just felt like propaganda for her views. 
- The character development left much to be desired. Half the time it was like she didn’t know what kind of person she wanted to make a character so she kept changing them up. 
- Finally, I really did not care for the narrator of the audiobook. 

Don’t get me wrong, I think many people will really enjoy this one, especially crime fans. But 3 stars is the best I can give it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

sammymilfort's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Self harm, Suicide, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

the_jamae_way's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

anniepatt's review against another edition

mysterious medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Gaslighting

leighlo_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Very engaging mystery that keeps you on your toes. I promise you won’t see the plot twists coming. I was shooketh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Murder, and Toxic friendship