Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

16 reviews

j_emerson18's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

What a great book to start the year. It was inspirational and well written.  I love the plot twists near the end. The writing style was super intriguing. I loved the story with the four unlikely friends in the midst of a murder. **spoiler warning**
I am honestly a little upset by the lack of depth or detail about the secondary story between two writers in which one is a serial killer. I would have loved more information about the two of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Stalking, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content and Grief

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest, Rape, and Sexual content

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Torture

Minor: Racism and Sexual content

chaotically_katie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.75

It had so much potential, and it’s such an interesting style of writing. But the lack of focus on the murder victim, and the main plot point of the scream, really disappointed me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

iamnita's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

The way this book was written, with the other letters at the end of each chapter was so unique. I love love loved that format. While initially I was like: blah blah blah, how long are we going to do this - it absolutely TOOK MY BREATH AWAY when the plot twist in this storyline happened and then I was fully invested. 
Now, the main storyline: I reflect on this read and wonder whether that storyline was kind of meh - because what kept me flipping was this other storyline. I felt like there was so much eating and drinking and just general hanging around that I'm not sure much happened until it all came together. 
Now, the ending: I found this pretty weak and the motives pretty meh. I don't like that all of a sudden there was this HUGE villain of a character that you'd never seen before - it kind of came out of nowhere.
I do give this 4 stars because the format was something. And despite there being pandemic references, it is not so in-your-face that for those triggered it will upset the masses.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Death and Violence

sleeson's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.75

Happy to receive an ARC digital copy of this book. My first time reading something written by this author. I go back and forth on how I feel with this one. The book is an easy read. It kept me entertained and I wanted to keep reading. 
The concept with what the author attempted to create for the storyline was unique. I love new and out of the box ideas. I found the four main characters easy to like . I was constantly rooting for their friendship. 
I wasn’t able to figure out the “who done it” in this one, which was fun. 
However, the downfall was that the ending needed answers and some pop. There is so much buildup and mystery throughout the story, the ending lacked the “home run out of the park” closure that it deserved. It felt quick ending with questions left unanswered. I would give this author another go.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol