maryjames's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
Graphic: Child death, Death, Car accident, Murder, Body shaming, Abortion, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Ableism
Moderate: Blood and Vomit
Minor: Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Grief
kyra_613's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Gaslighting, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Car accident, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Grief, Abortion, and Eating disorder
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Ableism, and Vomit
fee2007's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Ableism, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
ladylucy22's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Graphic: Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Ableism, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Cursing, and Death
pam_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Spoiler
The only negative: the main character is annoying and downright unlikeable by the end (but it works with the ending imo).Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Abortion, Blood, Child abuse, and Death
Minor: Ableism, Grief, Pregnancy, Violence, Medical content, Misogyny, Fatphobia, and Infidelity
mishasbooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Cancer, Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Terminal illness, Animal death, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Suicide attempt
ellestark's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Abortion, Ableism, Child abuse, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, and Grief
aleen_elizabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Miscarriage, Murder, Ableism, Death of parent, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Abortion, Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Sexual content
rot_swap's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
This book is not a thriller. The amount of detailed sex scenes was truly wild, almost comical. I ended up skipping through them as the book went on. It's fine for a book to be sexy, but it should been marketed as erotica (ie not a thriller!). But also I'm incredibly bored with, not to mention creeped out by, the "sexy thriller" genre. It usually ends up blurring the line between sex/desire and violence. Power is achieved through both sex and violence. This is rape culture!
The characters were flat and uninteresting. Jeremy was perfect to the point that it was annoyingly unrealistic. Verity was unknowable in a way that wasn't mysterious or clever, just poorly written. Lowen is also a nothing person. Nothing about the way she was written made me actually believe she herself was a writer. And her sleepwalking trauma was weird. I don't get what Hoover was trying to do there. Just felt lazy. Overall, the way trauma was written about came off as trauma porn. The characters are all defined by their trauma and Hoover revels in it.
Plot holes galore and an unsatisfying ending.
I could go on but it's all been said. This was my first and last Colleen Hoover book.
Graphic: Child death and Child abuse
Moderate: Ableism and Death
deathbybooks4482's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
BUT
I also couldn’t ignore how this book hinges on ableism. I wish the author had chosen a different trope or maybe tackled it in a more creative way to avoid its inherent ableism. Even addressing her characters’ ableism would have been great. But without any pushback within the text, it feels like the author just doesn’t have a great understanding of disability.
Graphic: Ableism, Infidelity, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Murder
Moderate: Abortion, Child death, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicide