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ronnieb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Trigger Warnings: Kidnapping, Child Abuse/Neglect, Pregnancy Issues, Patient Mistreatment/Doctor-Patient Abuse, Sexual Harassment, Suicide, Death on page
Wow, was this dark and unexpected. I went in with no expectations after hearing mixed things about Mary Kubica as a whole but this really had me on the edge of my seat. There were so many scenes that had me squirming in my seat from the uncomfortable situations and tense atmosphere. You jump right into a child being held captive and it was so hard to read about. I almost gave up right then but the writing was so compelling and sucked me in. You then jump around in different perspectives all taking place at different times and I was hooked into all of the POVs and I think they all added something to the narrative as a whole.
As for our central mystery, there are three mainly and I can say I was pretty surprised with each reveal. Because of the fast-paced nature, I had no time to speculate on what was going on I just was reading so quickly. That is how I tend to tell if I am reading a potential 5-star mystery. If I had to give some cons I would say that if you do think about what is going on everything is pretty easy to figure out and also I think there is minimal character development or depth which could take away from your attachment to some of the characters but I had enough to make me care and sympathize with all of our characters.
Wow, was this dark and unexpected. I went in with no expectations after hearing mixed things about Mary Kubica as a whole but this really had me on the edge of my seat. There were so many scenes that had me squirming in my seat from the uncomfortable situations and tense atmosphere. You jump right into a child being held captive and it was so hard to read about. I almost gave up right then but the writing was so compelling and sucked me in. You then jump around in different perspectives all taking place at different times and I was hooked into all of the POVs and I think they all added something to the narrative as a whole.
As for our central mystery, there are three mainly and I can say I was pretty surprised with each reveal. Because of the fast-paced nature, I had no time to speculate on what was going on I just was reading so quickly. That is how I tend to tell if I am reading a potential 5-star mystery. If I had to give some cons I would say that if you do think about what is going on everything is pretty easy to figure out and also I think there is minimal character development or depth which could take away from your attachment to some of the characters but I had enough to make me care and sympathize with all of our characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Pregnancy and Sexual harassment
serendiptii's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I saw this book was highly rated and thought I would love it too. But I was slightly disappointed by it. Don't get me wrong, it flows nicely. Somewhere in the middle, it feels the author themselves did not know where it was going.
It felt like a lot of fluff in the middle about what it is to be a doula (one of the main characters is a doula), some gynec stuff that I found to be a bit disturbing and really didn't contribute anything to the story.
The beginning is promising, it intrigues you, pulls you in and somewhere in the middle it just lets you... hang around. You don't know why you are there but you are waiting for something to happen but it isn't happening. I was mostly skimming paragraphs about information that did not contribute anything to advance the plot.
A lot of things were great about this book, but definitely not the way the author wrapped things up. SPOILER For instance, I did not like that Gus was just an imaginary character, he could've been the child that was supposedly miscarried. Otherwise, what was the point of dropping the info about "Marty got me pregnant but I got a miscarriage" then?
I also did not like how the other Delilah did not get much attention later on. She just moves? That's it? I feel like that did not get closure
OH and the writing annoyed me a lot of times. It was like the author thought it was necessary to be condescending to the readers so lets go ahead and break a moderately complex sentence into 6! Wasn't a fan.
This book could've been so much better, my fever induced dreams created better endings for this book than when I finally read it.
It felt like a lot of fluff in the middle about what it is to be a doula (one of the main characters is a doula), some gynec stuff that I found to be a bit disturbing and really didn't contribute anything to the story.
The beginning is promising, it intrigues you, pulls you in and somewhere in the middle it just lets you... hang around. You don't know why you are there but you are waiting for something to happen but it isn't happening. I was mostly skimming paragraphs about information that did not contribute anything to advance the plot.
A lot of things were great about this book, but definitely not the way the author wrapped things up. SPOILER
I also did not like how the other Delilah did not get much attention later on. She just moves? That's it? I feel like that did not get closure
OH and the writing annoyed me a lot of times. It was like the author thought it was necessary to be condescending to the readers so lets go ahead and break a moderately complex sentence into 6! Wasn't a fan.
This book could've been so much better, my fever induced dreams created better endings for this book than when I finally read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Child abuse and Miscarriage
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