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wondernaut55's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I adored this - it felt like a comeback from Five Survive, with a heavy focus on character development as well as an interesting mystery. Because of the equal focus on characters and a twisty plot, the pacing did suffer quite a bit, but I loved the characters and mystery enough to keep going.
Strong Points: Characters, compelling setup, intrapersonal relationships, and themes
Weak Points: Not really many stakes to stick to the mystery until we got to a little past the halfway point - if we’re breaking this up into 4 acts, act 2 bogged down pretty quickly, and act 3 started strong but like a rollercoaster it dropped hard. I also felt like our villain’s motive was pretty weak and didnt unravel the mystery in the most satisfying way. However, the theme carried that on its back, and I loved the wrap-up for it.
Strong Points: Characters, compelling setup, intrapersonal relationships, and themes
Weak Points: Not really many stakes to stick to the mystery until we got to a little past the halfway point - if we’re breaking this up into 4 acts, act 2 bogged down pretty quickly, and act 3 started strong but like a rollercoaster it dropped hard. I also felt like our villain’s motive was pretty weak and didnt unravel the mystery in the most satisfying way. However, the theme carried that on its back, and I loved the wrap-up for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Confinement, Torture, Cursing, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Stalking, Death, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, and Physical abuse
brenna97's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
jul00013's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
aamina's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
cherry_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
oliviagwynne's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Interesting premise but way WAY longer than it needed to be.
Took a minute to draw my attention in
Belle is an interesting MC. She’s very prickly and locked in on what her perspective is. She’s not super willing to accept help or friendship from others due to an extreme fear of abandonment.
The dad Charlie was sus from the beginning. I don’t trust him. Or the mom. The way he acts before and after the reappearance is suspicious but the mom’s story doesn’t make sense either. The author does a good job at making you doubt everyone’s intentions and explanations
I did find the pacing a little slow moving for the subject matter
Having a stranger reappear in your life and start living in your house, being your mother despite you not knowing them at all? Has to be so strange a feeling. But at the same time, some of Belle’s reactions to her mother’s situation seem very stange.
I always get frustrated at characters when they don’t vocalize their protests. I get that people are different and not everyone finds it easy to vocalize their issues but it drives me nuts. JUST SAY SOMETHING!!!
I found it so weird how none of the adults clocked how strange Rachel was acting. Her just showing up everywhere and having no concern for the press or the police is so strange. It should’ve put some of the adults backs up not just her teenage daughter.
The author does a great job of making you trust no one. But she also does a good job at highlighting how Belle had some pretty wild logic jumps obviously fueled by emotion. Belle kept going to people for answers and then not asking the question she originally wanted to ask and leaving without the answer. It was frustrating
I didn’t like Carter and I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was.
Also Charlie seemed like such a shit dad. He’s supposed to have been such a great Dad to Belle but we don’t see that as readers in the text, we are just told it. So when he starts acting pretty crappy, we don’t have anything to concretely counteract that evidence in the text. This is explained more as the plot went on but it didn’t make sense at first.
I kept waiting for Belle to just explode everyone. She kept so much buried inside. When she finally did, I felt it was a little underwhelming.
I found the plot was very good at keeping you guessing. I was never sure where the story was going to go.
It was a weird dilemma because I never really wanted to listen to it, but whenever I did, I would get sucked in
The explanation is an interesting twist. I did find Belle’s dilemma at the climax kind of stupid. The decision was so obvious especially with all she’d learned and uncovered but the author drew it out FOREVER.
The climactic action sequence was a surprise. I wasn’t expecting it. It took a long time to wrap up afterwards though
The end had one of my LEAST favourite incidents in fiction so I dropped my rating down a half point.
It also took FOREVER to end. A lot could have been trimmed
junove's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
fatheraki's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
4.5 stars
Read this whole book during my flight from Luton to Athens (3.5hrs), and I breezed right through it. I loved the plot and the mystery and all the twists, I really did.
The ending however, underwhelmed me. It’s hard to write a satisfying end to crime novels, and I think the ending missed the mark just slightly.
Also why is Holly Jackson so good at writing fictional boyfriends??? Ash was a sweetheart.
Read this whole book during my flight from Luton to Athens (3.5hrs), and I breezed right through it. I loved the plot and the mystery and all the twists, I really did.
The ending however, underwhelmed me. It’s hard to write a satisfying end to crime novels, and I think the ending missed the mark just slightly.
Also why is Holly Jackson so good at writing fictional boyfriends??? Ash was a sweetheart.
ninareadsbooks_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5