Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

23 reviews

cait_demorato's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Gaslighting

myreadingdream13's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

The main girl makes frustrating decisions. The story veered dangerously close to some compelling ideas and thoughts but forgot all about them for the twist-riddled mess of an ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Vomit

rachelmerrie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This held my attention the entire time. I loved the mindset it put me in as far as thinking about the relatives of serial killers and the trauma that comes from it. So many twists at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

thereadedit's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I'm having a hard time deciding where my feelings land on this one. Through most of the book I had trouble wanting to sit down and read it for extended periods of time. I would get 35-50 pages in and I could just walk away without it being an urge to get back to because I had to know what was happening. 

And I absolutely hate that I couldn't sit for an extended period of time to get through it. But do not get me wrong. This was a great story. I really enjoyed the twists, turns and the shock of events within the book. 

I also wish there would have been more from from Coopers side of things. If we could have seen how it affected him or Daniel for that matter it could have sewn more doubt regarding who did what. I needed more of an explanation for what happened in the end. There was none for some things and I hate that there wasn't. It would have rounded the story more for so many questions that are being asked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

jennyoli96's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Minor: Gun violence and Forced institutionalization

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

cdubbs'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cursing, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Blood, and Pregnancy

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

i actually really liked this. i try really hard to not put a ton of thought into guessing who or what the twist is in thrillers so i don’t ruin the experience for myself, and that worked in my favor for this one. there was a bunch of twists and turns with a mix of unreliability. some basic tropes but they were written really well. i enjoyed the writing quite a bit. i didn’t like some small parts and also the unreliability of the narrator and why she was unreliable. this book felt like if the writers of criminal minds and pretty little liars wrote a book. i overall enjoyed reading this! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

bookishgoob's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

H o l y c r a p was this book an absolute RIDE. 
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham follows Chloe Davis, now in her 30’s still plagued by what her father did when she was a child. As the 20 year anniversary of her fathers crimes nears closer and closer every day, the same pattern of crimes starts happening again. Being girls that she knows, she starts to suspect people around her and her world unravels. 

It’s so interesting to me, reading thrillers as often as I do, because I usually know what i’m looking for when it comes to trying to spot who is the person at fault. While I made some guesses in the beginning that turned out to be right, I wasn’t expecting it to unravel the way that it did. The feeling of being in Chloe’s shoes and not knowing who to trust made my heart race. This was such a good example of not giving away too much information, yet still finding things out in unison with the character. Feeling the same sense of uncomfortable tension and trying figure out what’s going on along with the main character is such an awesome way to feel included in the writing. The darkness that creeps inside of her, the feeling of not being able to trust herself wholly when it comes to everyone around her, and the subtle gaslighting she does to herself were all so well written. One of my favorite things about this book was the use of foreshadowing, how it wasn’t so obvious that it ruined the ending early, but it wasn’t so subtle that you didn’t know fully what was going on. This author did such an awesome job of using our minds against us while looking at each of the suspects. I fully enjoyed this book. I gave us just a little less than 5 stars because I would have like to see a little more of the ending scene where the truth comes to light. it seemed just a little rushed to me. Other than that, I have no complaints with this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, and biting my nails. It definitely feels like a slow start but when it gets going, it GOES. if you’re looking for a thriller that will keep you up all night trying to figure out who did it, this one is definitely for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol