Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

36 reviews

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. 

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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

thevanessa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

Pulled me out of a reading slump! It’s been a while that I’ve stayed up reading because I couldn’t put it down. I loved it a lot, but I won’t lie when I say, the ending gave me As Good As Dead vibes, as in, things were a little too unbelievable😅 other than that, I already want to read it again now that I know how everything played out; read with a new perspective. In conclusion, I love Holly Jackson, and already can’t wait for a new book🖤

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Blood and Violence

Minor: Death of parent, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

sophiesometimesreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.0

This was well-paced, in my opinion, as it kept my attention the whole time, though I did go in with the expectation that this was more of a mystery over a thriller so wasn't expecting a super fast pace. Some people seem to feel like it dragged in the middle but I didn't really find this to happen for me.

I didn't pick much of the nitty gritty details (and most of the time when I did it was two pages before it was revealed in text). Some of the overarching details I did get, but I was questioning myself the whole time, and there was one reveal that really shocked me but made sense when looking back, so that was fun. I was hoping for a little more of a shocking reveal for a five star read, but there were components that shocked me so I wasn't disappointed, just felt like there was a little room for more shocking details or a big twist to the overarching narrative. In saying this, all the loose ends were tied up one way or another which is something I really appreciate about Holly Jackson's novels. Even the red herrings were explained away.

A lot of the characters are unlikeable, so if that's not your think you might not enjoy this, but I thought it made for an interesting dynamic between them all. Bel did get a bit frustrating at times, but it wasn't enough for me to hate her or to feel as if I didn't want to keep reading. I did feel like her character development happened a little quickly at the end though, and could've been fleshed out a little more, particulalry given the length of the novel, but it was still good to see how her character changed and grew across this novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this and if you like HJ's other novels, I'm sure you'll also like this one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Stalking, and Dementia

Moderate: Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder

lilshelly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Stalking, Physical abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Addiction, Infidelity, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy, Infertility, and Pandemic/Epidemic

siennaflynn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Murder, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Death, Cursing, Stalking, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Infertility, Death of parent, Torture, Misogyny, Medical content, Mental illness, and Bullying

parsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Confinement

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Toxic relationship

rhiwind93's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and Emotional abuse

kitkatkatdog's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

I loved it, what a great addition to my Holly Jackson collection. Enjoyed the twists and they just wouldn’t stop. It was a great read, I love a good mystery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, and Cursing

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Car accident, Murder, Death, Dementia, Gaslighting, Violence, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility

bookswithlauren's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Bullying, Dementia, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

toonyballoony's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Confinement

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Pregnancy, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking